LI  B  RAFLY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 
Of    ILLINOIS 


THE  PIASA, 


OR, 


BY 


HON.  P.  A.  ARMSTRONG, 

AUTHOR  OF  "THE  SAUKS,  AND  THE  BLACK  HAWK  WAR," 
"I,EGEND  OP  STARVED  ROCK,"  ETC. 


WITH  ENGRAVINGS  OF  THE  MONSTERS. 


MORRIS, 

E.  B.  FLETCHER,  BOOK  AND  JOB  PRINTER. 
1887. 


HIST, 


CHAPTER  I. 

PICTOGRAPHS  AND  PETROGLYPHS — THEIR  ORIGIN  AND  USES— THE 
PIASA,*OR  PIUSA,f  THE  LARGEST  AND  MOST  WONDERFUL PETRO- 
GLYPHS  OF  THE  WORLD — THEIR  CLOSE  RESEMBLANCE  TO  THE 
MANIFOLD  DESCRIPTIONS  AND  NAMES  OF  THE  DEVIL  OF  THE 
SCRIPTURES  —  WHERE,  WHEN  AND  BY  WHOM  THESE  MONSTER 
PETROGLYPHS  WERE  DISCOVERED — BUT  BY  WHOM  CONCEIVED 
AND  EXECUTED,  AND  FOR  WHAT  PURPOSE,  NOW  IS,  AND  PROB- 
ABLY EVER  WILL  BE,  A  SEALED  MYSTERY. 

From  the  evening  and  the  morning  of  the  sixth  day,  from 
the  beginning  when  God  created  the  heaven  and  the  earth,  and 
darkness  was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep,  and  the  spirit  of  God 
moved  upon  the  face  of  the  waters,  and  God  said:  Let  there  be 
light  in  the  firmament  of  the  heavens  to  divide  the  day  .from 
the  night,  and  give  light  upon  the  earth,  and  made  two  great 
lights,  the  greater  to  rule  the  day  and  the  lesser  to  rule  the 
night,  and  plucked  from  his  jeweled  crown  a  handful  of  dia- 
monds and  scattered  them  broadcast  athwart  the  sky  for  bril- 
liants to  his  canopy,  and  stars  in  his  firmament,  down  through 
the  countless  ages  to  the  present,  all  nations,  tongues,  kindreds 
and  peoples,  in  whatsoever  condition,  time,  clime  or  place, 
civilized,pagan, Mohammedan, barbarian  or  savage,have  adopt- 
ed and  utilized  signs,  motions,  gestures,  types,  emblems,  sym- 
bols, pictures,  drawings,  etchings  or  paintings  as  their  primary 
and  most  natural  as  well  as  direct  and  forcible  methods  and 
vehicles  of  communicating,  recording  and  perpetuating  thought 
and  history.  Even  that  great  book  of  books  and  history  of 
histories — the  Holy  Bible — teems  with  examples  of  this  character 


*PY-A-SAW — That  is,  the  beast  that  devours  men. 
fPv-u-SAW — That  is,  the  bird  that  devours  men. 


P 


52925 


4  THE  PIASA. 

from  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  to  the  last  chapter  of  Revela- 
tions.  Our  syllabaries  or  alphabets  are  but  a  series  and  system 
of  types,  symbols  and  emblems  which,  by  the  aid  of  machinery 
and  printers'  ink,  bristle  with  thought  and  are  the  vehicles  of 
recording  history. 

Sign  or  gesture  language  is  the  primary  method  of  direct 
communication,  from  the  beginning  to  the  present,  while  object 
language  is,  and  ever  has  been,  the  indirect  mode  of  not  only  com- 
municating but  preserving  history.  The  former  is  of  more  uni- 
versal use  than  the  latter,  for  it  always  has  and  always  will  exist 
and  be  utilized  by  the  entire  human  family,  civilized  or  savage, 
and  extends  to  every  animal  existence,  flesh,  fish  and  fowl. 

While  gesture  language  is  direct,  it  is  but  transient,  because 
not  recorded  so  as  to  be  preserved.  On  the  other  hand  object 
language  is  direct  in  its  communication  and  most  graphically 
and  indelibly  recorded. 

The  entire  series  of  object  language  may  well  be  embraced  in 
the  term  .now  in  general  use — pictograph — or  a  writing  by  pict- 
ures, which  conveys  upon  sight  and  instantaneously  records  by 
graphic  means  the  thought,  act  or  deed  intended  by  the  artist, 
without  words, syllables  or  letters,  and  maybe  delineated  upon 
any  hard  substance — wood,  stone,  metal,  bone,  slate,  dried 
hide,  etc. 

When  delineated  upon  rock  or  stone  these  pictographs  have 
been  aptly  named  petroglyphs  by  the  learned  German  archaeol- 
ogist, Dr.  Andree,  of  Stuttgardt,  which  means  rock  delinea- 
tions, or  pictures. 

By  signs  or  gestures  the  infant  first  attempts  and  finally 
succeeds  in  attracting  attention  and  indicating  its  wants,  and 
no  other  means  of  communication  is  known  between  persons 
entirely  ignorant  of  each  other's  language  and  deaf  mutes.  The 
secondary  method  is  by  sounds  or  oral  language,  which  is  of 
the  greatest  importance  and  universal  use. 

Object  language,  or  pictographs,  is  the  tertiary  method,  and 
though  not  so  generally  used,  its  communication  being  of  a 


THE   PIASA.  5 

more  permanent  and  enduring  form,  its  lessons  are  of  greater 
importance  in  history  than  sign  or  oral  language.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  of  the  fact  that  pictographs  were  the  precursors 
and  parents  of  our  syllabaries  or  alphabets,  and  the  indirect 
expressions  of  ideas  formed  in  oral  speech,  hence  their  import- 
ance to  the  ethnologist  depends  upon  the  light  they  may  shed 
upon  the  evolution  of  human  culture.  If  by  their  aid  we  may 
learn  the  wisdom  of  the  ages  in  which  no  written  history  was 
kept  except  these  crude  pictures,  then  indeed  will  they  have 
served  a  noble  purpose. 

The  importance  of  pictographs  to  the  human  race  cannot  be 
over-estimated  in  their  production  of  the  smaller  and  systema- 
tized letters  and  types  which  have  been  the  direct  means  of  pre- 
serving and  perpetuating  history,  science  and  knowledge, 
through  the  alphabet  which  seems  to  have  been  known  and 
brought  into  use  some  3,400  years  ago  or  about  1,500  years 
before  the  Christian  era.  Whether  letters  and  the  alphabet  were 
invented  by  the  Egyptians,  Ninevehans,  Phoenicians  or  Chinese 
is  a  disputed  question,  for  they  all  claim  the  honor.  Rollin  says 
letters  were  taken  from  Syria  to  Greece  by  Cadmus  about  the 
year  1455  B.  C. 

The  first  discovery  of  pictographs  and  petroglyphs  in  the 
United  States  dates  back  only  about  three  hundred  years,  but 
they  are  more  plentiful  in  this  than  any  other  country;  and  the 
American  Indians  have  shown  a  versatility  as  well  as  much  talent 
•in  their  execution,  as  well  as  design.  Indeed  they  have  in  many 
instances  combined  the  art  of  etching,  or  engraving,  and  that 
of  painting  with  fine  effect,  and  seem  to  have  had  some  practi- 
cal aim  or  object  in  view  in  the  production  of  each  delineation. 
To  be  enabled  to  correctly  interpret  and  fairly  understand  the 
purport  and  meaning  of  Indian  pictographs,  and  more  especially 
their  petroglyphs,  which  are  of  greater  interest  and  importance 
to  the  ethnologist  and  archaeologist,  we  must  become  familiar 
with  their  traditions,  mythologies,  customs,  habits,  dress, 
religious  beliefs  and  modes  of  worship.  Their  petroglyphs  as  a 


6  THE   PIASA. 

rule  being  much  larger  than  their  pictographs,  and  incised  or 
cut  into  the  face  of  the  rock  and  the  incisions  or  tracings  filled 
with  paint,  they  are  much  better  preserved  as  well  as  larger 
than  their  pictographs.    Add  to  this  the  fact  that  the  Indian  is 
naturally  averse  to  manual  labor,  and  the  cutting  or  engrav- 
ing of  the  hard  rock  with  such  instruments  as  he  could  im- 
provise   was  slow  and    tedious    work,   none   but    the    most 
important  objects  and  events  were  delineated  upon  the  rocks, 
hence  their  petroglyphs  are  vastly  more  important  as  records 
than  their  pictographs.      Again,  there  is    another  difference 
between  these  two  kinds  of  delineations,  viz:    All  their  picto- 
graphs we  can  or  have  found  are  of  comparatively  modern 
date,   while  their  petroglyphs  as  a  rule  are  ancient.       This 
may  be  accounted  for,  in  part  at  least,  by  the  fact  that  their 
pictographs  were  simply  painted   and  usually  on   perishable 
material,  while  their- petroglyphs  were  etched,  cut  or  incised  and 
then  painted,  and  the  painting  renewed  from  time  to  time,  kept 
them  well  preserved.    A  very  general  system  of  pictographs  is 
now  in  use  by  the  Indians  of  the  plains,  by  means  of  which  they 
keep  a  record  of  the  leading  events  of  each  year  which  thereby 
becomes  an  annual  calendar,  which  they  call  winter  counts. 
Not  infrequently  do  they  keep  this  kind  of  chronology  for 
a  century  upon  a  single  buffalo  hide.      That  of  Lone  Dog,  a 
Dakota  Indian,  embraces  over  seventy  years  and  covers  only 
about   half  the    surface  of  one  buffalo  robe.       These  picto- 
graphs commenced  with  the  year  1800,  near  the  center  of  the* 
robe,  and  subsequent  years  up  to  1872  are  arranged  in  elliptical 
circles  around  it.    The  first  year  is  represented  by  three  sets  of 
parallel  black  lines  of  ten  each,  showing  that  thirty  Dakotas 
were  killed  by  the  Crow  Indians  that  year.    The  next  year  is 
represented  by  the  naked  bust  of  an  Indian,  literally  covered 
with  red  blotches,  showing  that  small-pox  killed  many  Indians 
that  year,  etc.     Many  of  these  pictographs  are  apt  illustrations 
of  the  ideologies  intended  to  be  conveyed.     The  meteoric  shower 
of  November  13,  1833,  is  represented  by  a  picture  of  the  moon 


THE   PIASA.  7 

and  a  host  of  falling  stars,  leaving  a  large  streak  trailing  after 
each.  Indian  pictographs  may  be  numbered  by  hundreds  of 
thousands  in  the  United  States  while  their  petroglyphs  are  com- 
paratively few,  less  than  one  to  a  thousand,  yet  they  have  been 
found  all  over  the  country  from  Maine  to  California,on  rocks, 
boulders,  ledges,  canyons,  caves  and  grottoes.  Sandstone 
surface  especially  is  prolific  with  these  delineations,  and  are  of 
three  classes. 

1st.  Simply  paintings  upon  the  rocks,  usually  in  three  colors, 
red,  green  and  black. 

2nd.     Etched  or  cut  upon  the  rock. 

3rd.  First  incised,  or  etched,  and  then  painted,  the  lines  of 
paint  following  the  incised  lines.  The  first  above  described  kind 
is  far  more  numerous  than  either  of  the  others. 

The  Indians  not  only  understand  the  art  of  compounding 
and  mixing  paints  that  withstand  the  elements,  but  are  adepts 
in  that  art.  Though  they  know  nothing  of  the  use  of  linseed 
oil  and  turpentine  in  the  preparation  of  paint  they  have  a  sub- 
stitute which  is  more  lasting.  By  boiling  the  tails  of  the  beaver 
together  with  the  feet  of  the  elk,  deer,  moose  or  antelope,  they 
obtain  a  glutinous,  oily  substance  with  which  they  mix  their 
earth-pigments  and  oxides  of  iron,  copper  and  zinc,  burnt 
bone,  etc.,  whereby  they  are  able  to  produce  colors  of  the  most 
enduring  kind.  Though  the  Indian  never  understood  the  art  of 
blending  colors  so  as  to  produce  varieties  of  shade,  he  well 
understood  primary  colors  and  used  them  to  advantage  in  pro- 
ducing all  the  prismatic  shades.  Their  paint  brushes  were  con- 
structed of  small  pieces  of  soft  wood,  chewed  or  pounded  at  the 
end  into  fibers,  but  more  recently  they  used  tufts  of  antelope 
hair  tied  around  small  sticks.  Their  implements  for  drawing, 
etching,  cutting,  carving,  scratching,  pecking  or  engraving  pet- 
roglyphs were  few  and  decidedly  pristine  and  simple.  They 
consisted  of  small  pieces  of  sharp-pointed  rocks — obsidian,  flint 
and  quartz  predominating.  But  after  coming  in  contact  with 
white  people  the  Indians  soon  discovered  the  great  superi- 


8  THE   PIASA. 

ority  of  well-tempered  steel  over  the  very  best  qualities  of  obsid- 
ian or  quartz  in  the  manufacture  of  gravers  for  stone  etchings, 
and  have  very  generally  adopted  a  short  thick-bladed  knife  ior 
that  purpose.  For  tracing  pens  they  used  a  piece  of  dry  buffalo 
rib  or  hard  wood,  dipped  in  a  thin,  colored  glue  which  was 
spread  along  the  line  intended  to  delineate  the  object  of  the 
petroglyph.  The  tracings  served  as  lines  for  incising,  scratching 
and  pecking,  as  well  as  for  final  painting.  Like  every  other 
nation  and  people  of  earth  the  red  man  attaches  great  signifi- 
cance to  colors.  To  them  black  is  an  emblem  of  sorrow,  anguish 
and  death;  red  of  defiance,  anger  and  war;  yellow  of  treachery, 
jealousy  and  inconstancy;  green  of  hope,  joy  and  victory;  blue 
of  truth,  love  and  constancy.  By  arranging  the  cardinal  colors 
side  by  side  in  various  forms  they  had  a  species  of  sign  alphabet 
by  means  whereof  they  communicated  as  well  as  perpetuated  a 
large  amount  of  information  and  history.  Nearly  every  rock- 
cavern,  as  well  as  smooth-faced  perpendicular  ledge  of  any  con- 
siderable altitude  throughout  the  entire  western  hemisphere, 
when  discovered  by  the  white  man,  were  converted  into  maps, 
charts  and  histories  by  the  aborigines,  whereon  were  recorded 
in  that  most  graphic  language,  petroglyphs,  the  great  events 
of  the  preceding  ages,  and  could  we  but  correctly  read  and  fully 
interpret  this  silent  language,  the  early  history  of  the  Occident, 
like  that  of  the  orient,  would  teem  with  deeds  of  heroism  and 
daring.  The  rocks  at  Oakley  Springs,  Arizona,  and  the  valley 
of  the  Kanawha,  West  Virginia,  alone  would  furnish  an  ency- 
clopedia of  stirring  events  of  the  most  intense  interest.  The 
valley  of  the  Mississippi,  though  producing  but  comparatively 
few  petroglyphs,  exhibited  some  of  the  grandest  and  by  far  the 
most  mysterious  ever  found  in  this  or  any  other  country  in  the 
world,  known  as  the  Piasa,  and  described  by  Father  Marquette, 
the  celebrated  Jesuit  priest,  who  was  of  noble  descent  and  born 
in  Picardy,  France,  and  came  as  a  missionary  to  Canada  in  the 
year  1665,  where  he  soon  learned  to  speak  the  language  of  some 
half  dozen  Indian  tribes,  from  whom  he  heard  of  the  existence 


THE   PI  ASA.  9 

of  a  great  river  in  the  west  which  they  called  Mesche-cebe,  or 
the  great  river.  Some  of  them  called  it  Natme-sipon,  or  the 
river  of  fishes;  others  called  it  Chusa-gua,  Sassa-gonly,  and 
Mala-bianchi,  and  subsequently  the  French  caled  it  La  Palisade 
Escandido,  Colbert,  or  St.  Louis.  M.  Talon  was  the  French 
intendant  of  Canada  at  the  time,  but  had  been  ordered  to  Paris 
in  the  fall  of  1672.  From  Marquette  and  others  he  had  heard 
stories  about  this  great  unknown  river  of  the  west  and  deter- 
mined to  investigate  the  matter.  Before  leaving  Canada  he 
selected  M.  Joliet  a  successful  merchant  of  Quebec,  who  had 
much  experience  among  the  Indians,  to  conduct  the  expedition. 
Joliet  selected  Marquette  as  his  chief  assistant  and  adviser  to 
accompany  him  in  this  hazardous  enterprise,  and  on  the  13th  of 
May,  1673,  with  only  about  a  half  dozen  men  they  embarked  in 
their  canoes  and  struck  out  on  their  long,  lonesome  and  danger- 
ous voyage  of  discovery.  They  did  not  reach  the  Mississippi  until 
the  17th  of  June.  Marquette  says  (See  his  discoveries  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi, published  in  Paris  in  1681 ):  "  We  here  met  from  time  to 
time  numberless  fish  which  struck  so  violently  against  our  canoes 
that  at  first  we  took  them  to  be  large  trees  which  threatened 
to  upset  us.  *  *  *  As  we  were  descending  the  river  we  saw 
high  rocks  with  hideous  monsters  painted  on  them  and  upon 
which  the  bravest  Indian  dare  not  look.  They  are  as  large  as 
a  calf,  with  head  and  horns  like  a  goat,  their  eyes  are  red,  beard 
like  a  tiger's  and  a  face  like  a  man's.  Their  tails  are  so  long 
that  they  pass  over  their  bodies  and  between  their  legs  under 
their  bodies,  ending  like  afish's  tail.  They  are  painted  red,  green 
and  black,  and  so  well  drawn  that  I  could  not  believe  they  were 
drawn  by  the  Indians,  and  for  what  purpose  they  were  drawn 
seems  to  me  a  mystery."  Again  he  says:  "  Passing  the  mouth 
of  the  Illinois  we  soon  fell  into  the  shadow  of  a  tall  promontory, 
and  with  great  astonishment  beheld  the  representation  of  two 
monsters  painted  on  its  lofty  limestone  front.  Each  of  these 
frightful  figures  had  the  face  of  a  man,  the  horns  of  a  deer,  the 
beard  of  a  tiger,  and  the  tail  of  a  fish,  so  long  that  it  passed 


10  THE   PIASA. 

around  the  body,  over  the  head  and  between  the  legs.  It  was 
an  object  of  Indian  worship,  and  greatly  impressed  me  with  the 
necessity  of  substituting  for  this  monstrous  idolatry  the  true 
God." 

Father  Hennepin,  another  early  explorer  of  the  wilds  of  the 
west,  published  a  small  volume  in  1698  entitled,  ''Anew  dis- 
covery of  a  vast  Country  in  America,"  which  he  dedicated  to 
William  III,  King  of  Great  Britain,  says,  pages  168  to  170: 
"This  made  our  voyage  the  more  easie,  for  our  men  landed 
several  times  to  kill  some  Fowl  and  other  Game  with  which  the 
Banks  of  the  Mischasipi  are  plentifully  stocked;  however,  before 
wre  came  to  the  River  Illinois  we  discovered  Messorites  who 
came  down  along  the  River,  but  as  they  had  no  Pyrogues  with 
them  we  crossed  to  the  other  side,  and  to  avoid  any  surprise 
during  the  night  we  made  no  fire  and  thereby  the  Savages  could 
not  discover  whereabouts  we  were,  for  doubtless  they  would 
have  murthered  us,  thinking  we  were  their  enemies. 

"I  had  quite  forgot  to  relate  that  the  Illinois  had  told  us 
that  towards  the  Cape  which  I  have  called  in  my  map  St. 
Anthony,  near  the  nation  of  the  Messorites,  there  were  some 
Tritons  and  other  Sea  Monsters  painted  which  the  boldest  Men 
durst  not  look  upon,  there  being  some  Inchantment  in  their 
face.  I  thought  this  was  a  story,  but  when  we  came  near  the 
place  they  had  mentioned  we  saw  instead  of  these  Monsters  a 
Horse  and  some  other  Beasts  painted  upon  the  Rock  with  Red 
Colors  by  the  Savages.  The  Illinois  had  told  us  likewise  that 
the  rock  on  which  these  dreadful  Monsters  stood  was  so  steep 
that  no  man  could  climb  up  to  it,  but  had  we  not  been  afraid 
of  the  Savages  more  than  of  the  Monsters  we  had  certainly  got 
up  to  them.  There  is  a  common  Tradition  amongst  the  people 
that  a  great  number  of  Miamis  were  drowned  in  that  place, 
being  pursued  by  the  Savages  of  Matsegamie,  and  since  that 
time  the  Savages  going  by  the  Rock  use  to  smoak  and  offer 
Tobacco  to  these  Beasts  to  appease,  as  they  say,  the  Manitou, 
that  is,  in  the  Language  of  the  Algonquins  and  Accadians,  an 


THE  PI  AS  A.  11 

Evil  Spirit,  which  the  Iroquois  call  Otkon,  but  the  Name  is  the 
onh-  thing  they  know  of  him.  While  I  was  at  Quebec  I  under- 
stood M.  Jolliet  had  been  upon  the  Mischasipi  and  obliged  to 
return  without  going  down  the  River  because  of  the  Monsters 
I  have  spoken  of  who  had  frighted  him,  as  also  because  he 
was  afraid  to  be  taken  by  the  Spaniards,  and  having  an  oppor- 
tunity to  know  the  truth  of  that  Storey  fromM.  Jolliet  himself, 
with  whom  I  had  often  traveled  upon  the  River  St.  Lawrence, 
I  aske/i  him  whether  he  had  been  as  far  as  the  Arkansas.  That 
Gentleman  answered  me  that  the  Outtaouats  had  often  spoke 
to  him  of  these  Monsters,  but  that  he  had  never  gone  further 
than  theHurons  and  Outtaouats,  with  whom  he  had  remained 
to  exchange  our  companie's  Commodities  with  their  Furs.  He 
added  that  the  Savages  had  told  him  that  it  was  not  safe  to 
go  down  the  River  because  of  the  Spaniards,  But  notwithstand- 
ing this  Report  I  have  found  nowhere  upon  the  River  any  mark 
as  crosses  and  the  like  that  could  persuade  me  that  the  Span- 
iards had  been  there  and  the  Savages  inhabiting  the  Mischasipi 
would  not  have  expressed  such  admiration  as  the}'  did  when 
they  saw  us  if  they  had  seen  Europeans  before.  I'll  examine 
the  question  more  in  my  second  volume." 

In  his  second  volume  Hennepin  says  he  had  seen  Father  Mar- 
quette,  from  whom  he  got  the  following  description:  "Along 
the  Rocks  I  have  mentioned  we  have  found  one  very  high  and 
steep  and  saw  two  Monsters  painted  upon  it  which  are  so  hid- 
eous that  we  were  frighted  at  the  first  sight,  and  the  boldest 
Savage  dare  not  for  their  Eyes  look  upon  them.  They  are  drawn 
as  big  as  a  Calf,  with  two  horns  like  a  Wild  Goat.  Their  Eyes 
are  Red,  their  Beard  is  like  that  of  a  Tyger,  and  their  Body  is 
covered  with  Scales.  Their  Tail  is  so  long  that  it  goes  over 
their  Heads  and  then  turns  between  their  Fore-Legs  under  the 
Belly,  ending  like  a  Fish-Tail.  There  are  but  three  Colors,  viz: 
Red,  Green  and  Black,  but  those  Monsters  are  so  well  drawn 
that  I  cannot  believe  that  the  Savages  did  it,  and  the  Rock 
whereon  they  are  painted  is  so  steep  that  it  is  a  wonder  to  me 


12  THE   PI  ASA. 

how  it  was  possible  to  draw  those  Figures.  But  to  know  to 
what  purpose  they  were  made  is  a  great  Mystery.  Whatever 
it  be  our  best  Painters  would  hardly  do  better." 

Two  immensely  large  petroglyphs  of  a  monster — or  more 
properly  speaking,  monsters,  for  they  do  not  appear  to  have 
been  alike,  though  substantially  so,  as  will  be  seen  by  reference 
to  the  engravings  herewith  given — were  found,  first  incised  or 
cut  upon  a  layer  of  bluish  gray  sandstone  overlying  a  bed  of 
limestone  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  immediately 
where  the  Illinois  State  prison  was  built  at  Alton,  Illinois, 
which  were  quite  distinct  when  that  locality  was  first  settled 
by  the  white  people,  and  traces  of  their  outlines  remained 
until  the  rock  whereon  they  were  delineated  was  quarried  by 
the  convicts  of  the  penitentiary  as  late  as  about  the  year  1856. 
From  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois  river  at  Grafton  to  Alton,  Illi- 
nois, a  distance  of  twenty  miles,  the  Mississippi  river  runs  from 
west  to  east,  and  its  north  bank  or  Illinois  side  is  a  high  bluff, 
the  highest  point  being  the  eastern  end.  This  bluff  is  but  a  con- 
tinuous perpendicular  strata  of  limestone,  ranging  from  forty  to 
fifty  feet  high,  with  a  layer  of  bluish  gray  fine  grit  sandstone, 
about  twenty  feet  deep,  lying  on  the  top  or  over  the  limestone, 
and  upon  this  sandstone,  at  an  elevation  of  some  eighty  feet 
above  the  base  of  this  ledge  of  rocks  and  the  river's  surface, 
these  monsters  were  incised  and  afterwards  painted .  They  were 
of  about  equal  size  and  measured  thirty  feet  in  length  by  twelve 
feet  in  height.  From  their  hideous  shape  and  size  they  were  a 
mortal  terror  to  all  the  Indian  nations  of  the  then  northwest. 
Each  nation  had  one  or  more  traditions  connected  therewith, 
some  calling  them  The  Piasa,  others  called  them  The  Piusa.  In 
painting  these  monsters  but  three  colors  were  used — red,  emblem- 
atic of  war  and  vengeance;  black,  symbolic  of  death  and  despair; 
and  green,  expressive  of  hope  and  triumph  over  death  in  the 
land  of  dreams,  beneath,  beyond  the  evening  star,  where  they 
located  their  happy  hunting  grounds. 

In  estimating  the  size  of  these  petroglyphs,  Father  Mar- 


THE  PIASA,  13 

quette  did  not  take  into  consideration  their  great  elevation  nor 
the  distance  from  his  canoe  to  the  rock  wall  where  they  were 
delineated.  Why  he  did  not  mention  the  fact  of  their  having 
the  wings  of  a  bat,  but  of  the  shape  of  an  eagle's,  is  not  easily 
explained,  yet  as  a  matter  of  fact  they  were  both  supplied  with 
those  appendages  beyond  a  doubt,  as  there  are  several  persons 
still  living  who  bear  testimony  to  the  fact  from  having  seen 
them.  They  also  had  four  legs,  each  supplied  with  eagle-shaped 
talons.  The  combination  and  blending  together  of  the  master 
species  of  the  earth,  sea  and  air,  as  shown  in  these  petroglyphs 
so  as  to  present  the  leading  and  most  terrific  characteristics  of 
the  various  species  thus  graphically  arranged,  is  an  absolute 
wonder  and  seems  to  show  a  vastly  superior  knowledge  of 
animal,  fowl,  reptile  and  fish  nature  than  has  been  accorded  to 
the  Indian.  Indeed,  they  seem  to  have  been  made  by  some  per- 
son familiar  with  the  Holy  Scriptures,  for  we  read  from  them  as 
follows:  "And  the  first  beast  was  like  a  lion  and  the  second 
like  a  calf,  arid  the  third  beast  had  a  face  as  a  man,  and  the 
fourth  beast  was  like  a  flying  eagle.  *  *  *  As  for  the  like- 
ness of  their  faces  they  four  had  the  face  of  a  man  and  the  face 
of  a  lion  on  the  right  side,  and  the  face  of  an  ox  on  the  left  side; 
they  four  also  had  the  head  of  an  eagle.  *  *  *  And  their 
wings  were  stretched  upwards,  and  when  they  went  I  heard  the 
noise  of  their  wings  like  the  noise  of  great  waters.  *  *  *  The 
first  was  like  a  lion,  and  had  eagle's  wings.  *  *  *  And 
another  beast,  like  a  leopard,  appeared,  which  had  upon  its 
back  four  wings  of  a  fowl.  *  *  *  And  a  fourth  beast  appear- 
ed, dreadful  and  terrible,  and  exceedingly  strong,  and  it  had 
great  iron  teeth.  And  behold,  a  great  red  dragon,  hav- 

ing seven  heads  and  ten  horns,  and  his  tail  drew  the  third  part 
of  the  stars.  *  *  *  And  he  had  two  horns  like  a  lamb,  and 
he  spake  like  a  dragon.  *  *  *  And  to  the  woman  were  given 
two  wings  of  an  eagle,  that  she  might  fly  into  the  wilderness. 
Behold,  there  came  up  from  the  sea  an  eagle.  And 

she  spread  her  wings  over  all  the  earth,  and  all  the  winds  of  the 


14  THE  PIASA. 

air  blew  on  her  and  were  gathered  together.  *  *  *  And  I 
beheld  as  it  were  a  roaring  lion  chased  out  of  the  woods,  and  I 
saw  he  sent  a  man's  voice  unto  the  eagle.  *  *  *  And  there- 
fore appear  no  more,  thou  eagle  nor  thy  horrible  wings,  nor 
thy  wicked  feathers,  nor  thy  malicious  heads,  nor  thy  hurtful 
claws,  nor  all  thy  vain  body." 

These  quotations  from  the  Holy  Scriptures  might  be  extended 
to  a  great  length,  all  tending  to  show  that  the  ancient  Israel- 
ites believed  in  the  existence  of  a  veritable  corporeal  and  visible 
Devif,  to  whom  they  attributed  the  power  of  all  evil,  and  sym- 
bolized under  various  forms,  shapes  and  names.  To  Mother 
Eve  he  assumed  the  shape  of  the  serpent,  with  the  voice  of  a 
man,  and  by  false  representations  and  blandishments  induced 
her  to  dupe  and  deceive  her  husband.  While  more  generally 
described  in  the  Bible  as  the  leviathan  or  dragon,  he  is  fre- 
quently mentioned  as  the  "  old  serpent,"  "  enemy,"  "  evil  spirit," 
"unclean  spirit,"  "evil  one,"  "wicked  one,"  "liar,"  "lying 
spirit,"  "father  of  lies,"  "crooked  serpent,"  "piercing  serpent," 
"prince  of  the  power  of  the  air,"  "great  red  dragon,"  "abad- 
don,"  "beast,"  "  apollyon,"  "  adversary,"  "  accuser  of  his  breth- 
ren," "serpent,"  "spirit  that  worketh  in  the  children  of  diso- 
bedience," "Belial,"  "Beelzebub,  "-"god  of  this  world,"  "power 
of  darkness,"  "ruler  of  the  darkness  of  this  world,"  "prince  of 
the  devils,"  "tempter,"  "murderer,"  "devil,"  "Satan,"  etc. 

All  of  these  names  and  terms  were  used  as  being  synonymous 
and  convertible,  representing  a  fixed,  firm  and  abiding  faith  in 
the  existence  of  one  or  more  all-bad  being,  essence  or  principle, 
which  is  the  active  and  implacable  enemy  of  the  human  race. 
Though  indefinite  and  divergent  in  opinion  as  to  whether  there 
were  but  one  or  a  legion  of  these  evil  spirits,  agencies  or  devils, 
as  well  as  to  \vhether  they  had  a  real  definite  corporeal  or 
merely  a  spiritual  existence,  it  is  a  significant  fact  that  all 
nations,  kindreds  and  tongues  in  every  clime,  time  and  place, 
whether  Christian,  Mohammedan  or  savage,  are  united  in  one 
great  prevailing  faith  and  belief  in  the  existence  of  certain  agen- 


THE  PIASA.  15 

cies  or  spirits  which  are  ever  busy  in  making  mischief  among, 
and  causing  sorrow,  pain,  grief  and  suffering  to  the  people  of 
earth,  to  which  they  apply  as  many  different  names,  shapes 
and  attributes  as  the  stars  in  heaven.  Nor  do  they  confine  the 
persecutions  of  these  evil  spirits  to  their  earthly  existence,  but 
connect  them  with  vivid  imagination  to  that  other  and  fondly- 
hoped-for  better  life  beyond  the  grave,  whither  they  fear  these 
tormentors  will  follow  them. 

In  very  many  leading  characteristics,  customs  and  beliefs  the 
North  American  Indians  very  closely  resemble  those  of  the 
ancient  Israelites,  when  they  first  came  in  contact  with  the 
Europeans.  Like  them  they  believed  in  the  existence  of  one 
great  and  all-powerful  being  or  spirit  which  should  be  and  was 
the  object  of  adoration.  Of  the  God-head  or  Christ  they  had  no 
tradition,  and  consequently  no  belief;  hence  the  subtleties  and 
nice  distinctions  of  the  trinity,  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost  of 
the  Christian  they  did  not  comprehend  and  would  not  believe. 
Red  Jacket  said:  "If  the  Great  Spirit  so  loved  the  pale-faces  that 
he  sent  his  only  son  to  them,  and  they  killed  him,  then  the  white 
people  did  very  wrong,  and  should  be  punished  for  this  evil  deed. 
If  he  had  sent  his  son  to  the  red  men  he  would  have  been  well 
fed  and  kindly  treated-." 

Though  the  Indians,  like  Christianized  white  men,  believe  in 
the  existence  of  a  multiplicity  of  good  spirits,  one  alone  is  chief, 
whom  they  know  as  the  Manitou  or  Sowana,  corresponding 
with  our  God  or  Jehovah,  and  the  universality  of  this  belief  in 
the  existence  of  an  all-powerful  Supreme  Ruler  of  the  universe 
among  all  nations  and  peoples  of  earth  constitutes  the  strongest 
argument  and  most  irrefragable  proof  of  the  existence  and  active 
agency  of  an  indulgent,  loving  Father  or  God,  whose  heart- 
yearnings  are  constantly  leading  and  drawing  his  children  home. 

"Where  buds  and  flowers  of  blooming  spring 

In  brightest  robes  abound, 
And  sweetest  odors  constant  bring 

In  never  ceasing  round  ; 
Where  birds  of  richest  plumage  shine, 

Of  fairy  form  and  fair, 
And  softest  melodies  combine 

To  charm  the  vocal  air." 


16  THE  PIASA, 

The  celebrated  Sauk  chief,  Black  Hawk,  who,  all  things  con- 
sidered, was  probably  the  ablest  Indian  that  ever  lived,  and 
certainly  one  of  the  purest  and  noblest  of  his  race,  said :  "  The 
Great  Spirit  has  the  care  of  all  beings  created.  Some 

believe  in  two  spirits,  one  good,  the  other  bad,  and  make  feasts 
for  the  bad  spirit,  to  keep  him  quiet,  thinking  that  if  they  can 
make  peace  with  him  the  good  spirit  \vill  not  hurt  them. 
If  the  Great  and  Good  Spirit  wishes  us  to  believe  and  do  as  the 
whites,  he  could  easily  change  our  opinions,  so  that  we  could 
see,  think  and  act  as  they  do.  We  are  nothing  as  compared  to 
His  power,  and  we  feel  and  know  it.  We  have  men  among  us 
like  the  whites,  who  pretend  to  know  the  right  path,  but  will 
not  consent  to  show  it  without  pay.  I  have  no  faith  in  their 
path,  but  believe  every  man  must  make  his  own  path." 

Red  Jacket  said :  "If  the  Great  Spirit  desires  us  to  believe  in 
the  white  man's  religion  why  has  He  not  given  us  a  book  like 
the  one  he  gave  them,  that  we  might  read  and  understand  His 
will?  *  *  *  He  knows  what  is  best  for  His  red  children,  and 
we  do  but  follow  His  will."  But  Black  Hawk,  with  all  his  piety 
and  sound  judgment,  believed  in  manifold  good  and  bad  spirits, 
as  illustrated  by  his  idea  as  to  how  corn,  beans  and  tobacco 
were  first  discovered  by  his  race,  which  was  that  "  a  beautiful 
woman  was  seen  to  descend  from  the  clouds  and  alight  upon 
the  earth  by  two  of  our  ancestors  who  had  killed  a  deer  and 
were  sitting  by  the  fire  roasting  a  part  of  it  to  eat.  They  were 
astonished  at  seeing  her,  and  concluded  she  was  hungry  and 
had  smelt  the  meat.  They  immediately  went  to  her,  taking 
with  them  a  piece  of  the  roasted  venison.  They  presented  it  to 
her.  She  ate  it,  telling  them  to  return  to  the  spot  where  she 
was  sitting  at  the  end  of  one  year  and  they  would  find  a  reward 
for  their  kindness  and  generosity.  She  then  ascended  to  the 
clouds  and  disappeared.  The  men  returned  to  their  village  and 
explained  to  the  tribe  what  they  had  seen,  done  and  heard,  but 
were  laughed  at  by  their  people.  When  the  period  had  arrived 
for  them  to  visit  this  consecrated  ground  where  they  were  to 


THE  PIASA.  17 

find  a  reward  for  their  attention  to  the  beautiful  woman  of  the 
clouds,  they  went  with  a  large  party,  and  found  where  her  right 
hand  had  rested  on  the  ground  corn  growing,  where  the  left 
hand  had  rested,  beans,  and  immediately  where  she  had  been 
seated,  tobacco." 

In  speaking  of  the  island  of  Rock  Island  the  old  chieftain 
said:  "It  was  our  garden,  like  the  white  people  have  near  their 
big  villages,  which  supplied  us  with  strawberries,  blackberries, 
gooseberries,  plums,  apples  and  nuts.  *  *  *  A  good  spirit 
had  charge  of  it,  which  lived  in  a  cave  in  the  rock  immediately 
under  the  place  where  the  fort  now  stands  (old  Fort  Armstrong, 
torn  down  in  1845) .  This  guardian  spirit  has  often  been  seen  by 
our  people.  It  was  white,  with  large  wings  like  a  swan's,  but  ten 
times  larger.  We  were  particular  not  to  make  much  noise  in 
that  part  of  the  island  which  it  inhabited  for  fear  of  disturbing 
it,  but  the  noise  at  the  fort  has  since  driven  it  away,  and  no 
doubt  a  bad  spirit  has  taken  its  place." 

He  does  not  claim  to  have  ever  seen  this  good  white  spirit, 
with  wings  ten  times  larger  than  those  of  a  swan,  which  would 
make  it  fully  as  large  as  the  Piasa,  but  says  that  many  of  his 
people  had  seen  it.  Thus  it  is  apparent  that  the  Indians 
believed  in  the  corporeal  existence  of  winged  spirits,  both  good 
and  bad,  and  to  their  minds  all  that  was  good  and  desirable 
was  attributed  to  good  spirits,  while  all  that  was  terrible  and 
disastrous  was  charged  to  the  account  of  bad  spirits.  By  refer- 
ring to  the  two  engravings  given  as  the  Piasa,  or  Piusa,  it  will 
be  observed  that  the  artist  who  originated  and  executed  them 
has  embodied  all  the  more  dreadful  characteristics  contained  in 
the  foregoing  Biblical  descriptions  of  the  devil.  Here  do  we 
behold  the  wings  and  talons  of  the  eagle,  united  to  the  body  of 
the  dragon  or  alligator,  with  the  face  of  a  man,  the  horns  of  the 
black-tailed  deer  or  elk,  the  nostrils  of  the  hippopotamus,  the 
teeth  and  beard  of  the  tiger,  the  ears  of  the  fox,  and  the  tail  of 
the  serpent,  or  fish,  with  the  scales  of  the  salamander,  so  nicely 
arranged  and  fitted  together  as  to  preserve  the  distinctive  char- 


18  THE   PI  AS  A. 

acteristics  of  each  and  produce  a  picture  of  all  that  is  the  most 
horrible,  alike  in  animal,  fowl,  fish  and  reptile  nature  in  a  single 
graphic  view.  That  king  of  birds,  the  eagle,  has  ever  been  con- 
sidered by  all  nations  and  peoples  the  emblem  and  symbol  of 
speed,  strength,  ferocity  and  quick  perception.  The  deer  and  elk, 
the  fleetest  of  the  animal  creation,  and  the  tiger  the  most  pug- 
nacious and  ferocious.  The  fox  is  the  symbol  of  cunning,  and 
possesses  the  sharpest  sense  of  hearing.  The  hippopotamus  is 
indigenous  alike  to  land  and  sea,  with  the  strength  and 
courage  of  the  lion,  united  to  the  ferocity  of  the  tiger,  and  a  hide 
which  may  be  termed  bullet-proof.  The  dragon  as  above  shown 
is  the  prototype  and  representative  of  Satan,  and  the  serpent  is 
his  twin  brother,  while  man  is  the  image  of  his  Maker,  and  by 
divine  command  received  "  dominion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and 
over  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  over  every  living  thing  that  mo veth 
upon  the  earth."  Whether  conceived  and  executed  by  the  Indian, 
Mound  Builder  or  white  man,  these  petroglyphs  were  fearfully 
grand  in  conception  and  stupendously  large  in  dimension.  Some 
writers  in  describing  them  have  said  their  scales  rivaled  the 
rainbow  in  their  gaudy  colorings,  but  we  are  inclined  to  the 
opinion  they  were  in  error  in  that  respect.  The  Mississippi  was 
the  great  highway  of  travel  to  the  Indians,  which  forced  them 
against  their  will  to  pass  these  pictured  monsters.  Knowing 
this  fact  the  Indian  voyagers  as  a  rule  prepared  for  an  attack 
upon  these  petroglyphs  as  they  passed,  while  some  offered  sac- 
rifices and  burnt  offerings  to  appease  their  supposed  anger 
toward  the  worshippers,  others  offered  prayer  and  supplica- 
tions to  them  for  mercy  and  forgiveness,  or  set  up  a  doleful 
howl,  accompanied  with  objurgations  and  lamentations,  but 
the  great  mass  of  the  braves  and  warriors  sent  poisoned  arrow 
heads  and  bullets  at  them,  so  that  between  the  hail  and  storms 
of  a  long,  long  period  of  time,  together  \vith  the  indentations 
made  by  arrow  heads  and  bullets  the  whole  face  of  the  rock 
where  these  petroglyphs  were  delineated  was  pitted  as  if  from 
a  severe  attack  of  small-pox,  which  fact  led  to  the  belief  that 


THE   PIASA.  19 

the  scales  were  variegated  in  color.  Yet  it  is  possible  they  were 
painted  of  different  colors.  If  such  was  the  case  these  petro- 
glyphs  must  have  presented  a  most  beautifully  horrid  sight, 
rendering  them  far  above  any  other  specimen  of  aboriginal  art 
found  in  the  United  States.  While  it  is  more  than  probable  they 
were  the  conception  and  production  of  the  Indians.they  may  have 
been  made  by  white  men  and  of  recent  date  anterior  to  their 
discovery  by  Father  Marquette,  who  first  saw  them  about  the 
first  of  August,  1673.  Marquette  was  the  first  white  man  to  des- 
cribe the  majestic  Upper  Mississippi,  and  has  therefore  been 
accredited  with  its  discovery,  yet  we  are  satisfied  that  it  had 
been  not  only  seen  but  traversed  by  other  white  men  nearly 
forty  years  before  his  discovery.  This  fact  is  clearly  established 
by  the  Jesuit  records.  The  Franciscan  friar,  LeCaron,  reached 
the  rivers  of  Lake  Huron  in  1616.  The  Duke  de  Richelieu  ob- 
tained a  charter,  known  as  the  grant  of  New  France,  from  Louis 
XIII,  in  1627,  which  embraced  the  whole  basin  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence and  of  such  streams  as  flow  directly  into  the  sea,  also  to 
the  country  now  known  as  Florida,  and  entered  upon  his  posses- 
sion in  1632,  and  in  1634  Peres,  Brebeuf  and  Daniel,  who  were 
soon  followed  by  Lallemaid,  penetrated  the  heart  of  the  Huron 
wilderness  and  established  two  missions  and  built  the  first 
house  of  the  society  of  Jesus,  and  named  it  St.  Ignatius.  M. 
Nicollet,  a  French  trader,  located  on  the  Ottawa  river  in  1618, 
and  in  1620  on  the  border  of  Lake  Huron.  Pere  Lejeuni  writes 
that  Nicollet  discovered  the  Wisconsin  river  in  1639.  He  says : 
"  M.  Nicollet,  who  has  penetrated  farthest  into  those  most  dis- 
tant regions,  has  assured  me  that  if  he  had  pushed  on  three 
days  longer  on  a  great  river  which  issues  from  the  second  lake 
of  the  Hurons  (Lake  Michigan)  he  would  have  found  the  sea. 
Now  I  strongly  suspect  this  sea  is  on  the  north  of  Mexico,  and 
that  thereby  we  could  have  an  entrance  in  Japan  and  China." 
Parkman  says:  "As  early  as  1639  Nicollet  ascended  the  Green 
Bay  of  Michigan  and  crossed  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi." 
While  it  is  improbable  that  Nicollet  saw  the  Mississippi  on  his 


20  THE   PIASA. 

first  visit  to  Wisconsin  in  1634,  \vhere  he  met  in  one  general 
assembly  "four  thousand  warriors  who  feasted  on  six  score  of 
beavers  before  whom  he  appeared  in  a  robe  of  state  adorned 
with  figures  of  flowers  and  birds,  approaching  with  a  pistol  in 
each  hand  he  fired  both  at  once,  and  the  astonished  natives 
hence  styled  him  '  Thunder  Panther,'  "  it  is  more  than  probable 
he  both  found  and  traversed  it  in  1639.  Father  Jean  Dequerre 
went  from  Sault  St.  Marie  to  the  Illinois  river  in  1652  and 
established  a  flourishing  mission,  probably  near  Starved  Rock, 
possibly  at  Peoria,  111.  He  visited  many  Indian  tribes  down  that 
river,  and  fell  a  mart}rr  to  his  faith  in  the  midst  of  his  Christian 
labors.  In  1654  a  couple  of  French  fur  traders  or  voyageurs 
joined  a  band  of  Ottawa  Indians  on  an  extended  hunting  expe- 
dition to  the  western  wilds,  of  five  hundred  leagues,  \vhich  ex- 
tended through  two  years,  when  they  returned  accompanied  by 
fifty  canoes  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  men.  That  ihey  not 
only  traversed  the  "Father  of  Waters,"  but  followed  it  from 
the  mouth  of  the  Wisconsin  to  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  or 
even  to  the  gulf,  is  very  probable,  but  they  wrote  no  history  of 
their  trip,  as  they  were  upon  a  hunting,  not  an  exploring  voy- 
age. Father  Jean  Charles  Drocoux  went  from  Quebec  to  the 
Illinois  river  and  returned  in  1657.  Pere  Renne  Mesnard  left 
Quebec  on  a  mission  to  the  far  west  in  1660,  and  traversed 
Lake  Superior  and  thence  to  Green  Bay,  reaching  Keweena, 
where  he  wandered  into  the  forest  the  next  year  and  was  either 
killed  or  starved  to  death.  «  Father  Claude  Allouez  started  on  a 
mission  to  the  far  west  in  1665,  and  reached  the  falls  of  St. 
Mary  in  September,  and  from  thence  went  to  the  great  vil- 
lage of  the  Chippewas  at  Chegoimegon,  where  a  grand  inter- 
tribal council  was  held  at  which  the  Pottawattamies  from  Lake 
Michigan,  the  Sauks  and  Foxes  from  the  west,  the  Hurons  from 
north  of  Lake  Superior,  the  Sioux  from  the  head  waters  of  the 
Mississippi,  as  well  as  the  Illinois,  assembled.  From  these 
Indians  he  received  a  most  bewitching  description  of  a  noble 
river  flowing  south,  on  which  they  dwelt,  and  whose  adjacent 
prairies  they  assured  him  were  replete  with  immense  herds  of 


THE  PIASA.  21 

buffalo  and  deer.  Their  representations  created  a  strong  desire 
in  him  to  explore  this  Indian  paradise.  He  returned  to  Quebec 
in  1667.  In  1668  Claude  Dablon  and  Pere  Marquette  estab- 
lished the  mission  of  St.  Marie,  which  is  the  oldest  European 
settlement  in  Michigan.  M.  Talon,  the  Canadian  intendant, 
sent  Nicholas  Perrot  on  a  mission  in  1669  to  arrange  a  general 
conference  with  all  the  Indian  nations  of  that  locality  to  assem- 
ble at  St.  Mary.  He  visited  Green  Bay,  from  whence  he  was 
escorted  by  the  Pottawattamies  to  Chicago.  In  1669  Allouez 
visited  Green  Bay  and  thence  up  Fox  River  of  Wisconsin  to  the 
principal  villages  of  the  Mascoutins,  and  in  the  fall  of  1670 
Dablon  joined  him  when  they  returned  to  Green  Bay  to  establish 
the  Mission  of  St.  Xavier.  A  great  congress  of  the  Indian  na- 
tions was  held  at  St.  Mary  in  May,  1671,  where  the  cross  was 
raised,  and  by  its  side  a  column  was  planted  and  marked  with 
the  lilies  of  the  Bourbons.  The  cross  was  borne  by  Allouez  and 
Dablon  through  the  lands  of  the  Mascoutins,  Kickapoos,  Mi- 
amis,  Sauks  and  Foxes  in  Wisconsin  and  Illinois,  so  when  Father 
Marquette  and  Sieur  Joliet  explored  the  Fox  and  the  Wisconsin 
rivers,  reaching  a  Mascoutin  village  on  the  bank  of  the  Wiscon- 
sin about  the  5th  of  June,  1673,  they  found  the  cross  erected  by 
Allouez  and  Dablon  in  May,  1671,  and  reaching  the  Mississippi 
on  the  17th  of  June,  1673,  they  descended  thatgreat  waterway 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri.  Passing  an  Indian  village  about 
a  hundred  miles  below  the  mouth  of  the  Wisconsin,  they  were 
hospitably  received  by  a  band  of  the  Illinois  Indians,  who  wel- 
comed them  in  the  figurative  language  of  the  Indian:  "French- 
men, how  bright  the  sun  shines  when  you  come  to  visit  us  ;  all 
our  village  awaits  you,  and  you  shall  enter  our  wigwams  in 
peace."  After  entering  and  smoking  the  calumet  they  were 
invited  to  visit  the  great  chief  of  the  Illinois,  and  were  told  by 
him  that  the  "  presence  of  his  guests  added  flavor  to  his  tobacco, 
made  the  river  more  calm,  the  sky  more  serene  and  the  earth 
more  beautiful."  Thus  it  is  shown  that  Nicollet  had  found  and 
partially,  at  least,  explored  the  Mississippi  thirty-four  years 
before  Marquette,  and  the  French  fur  traders  with  their  escort 


22  THE  PIASA. 

of  Ottawas  had  almost  to  a  certainty  explored  that  mighty 
river  some  nineteen  years  before  Marquette  and  Joliet,  so  that 
it  is  barely  possible  that  either  these  traders  or  Nicollet  may 
have  engraved  these  monsters  upon  the  rocks  for  a  purpose,  but 
what  that  purpose  may  have  been  can  only  be  surmised  at  this 
late  day.  Knowing  the  superstitious  nature  of  the  Indians 
theseFrench  traders,  or  voyageurs  as  they  were  then  called,  may 
have  made  their  homes  in  one  of  the  caverns  in  the  cliffs  and  cut 
and  delineated  those  petroglyphs  upon  the  sandstone  rock 
with  the  points  of  their  knives  for  the  purpose  of  frightening 
the  Indians  away  from  their  cavern  rendezvous,  and  thereby 
protecting  their  lives  and  property,  but  it  is  very  improbable 
that  these  French  voyageurs  painted  them,  for  they  could  hardly 
have  had  the  means  of  doing  so,  and  if  they  did  the  storms  of 
some  nineteen  years  between  the  time  they  must  have  done  the 
work  and  the  time  when  Marquette  saw  them  would  have 
thoroughly  obliterated  the  paint.  Another  reason  why  they 
did  not  make  those  petroglyphs  is  that  they  would  have  fright- 
ened their  allies — the  Ottawas  who  accompanied  them — added 
to  the  fact  that  white  men  were  seldom  known  to  make  petro- 
glyphs, while  such  works  are  common  to  the  Indian  races,  con- 
vinces us  that  they  were  the  entire  work  of  the  Indians. 

While  not  disputing  the  statement  of  Prof.  Russell,  herein- 
after given,  relative  to  the  innumerable  human  bones  he  fcmnd 
in  one  of  these  caves,  nor  attacking  his  suppositious  theory  of 
their  being  the  work  of  the  Piasa,  we  suggest  that  this  cave  may 
have  been  used  as  a  burial  place  by  the  Mound  Builders  or  Indi- 
ans, where  their  dead  were  deposited  from  generation  to  gene- 
ration. It  being  dry  and  protected  from  rains,  storms  and 
dampness,  the  bones  were  long  in  crumbling  to  decay. 

It  is  a  great  loss  to  science  and  ethnology  that  the  intrusive 
changes  of  the  swiftly  flowing  waters  of  the  Mississippi,  to- 
gether with  the  rains  and  storms  of  two  centuries  have  entirely 
obliterated  these  caves  and  carried  away  their  deposits,  so  that 
no  vestige  of  them  now  remains.  Nor,  indeed,  have  we  any 
photographs  or  other  pictures  of  these  monsters  known  to  be 


THE   PIASA.  23 

accurate.  They  were  delineated  on  the  river  side  of  the  rock 
and  destroyed  before  any  efforts  were  made  to  even  take  "coun- 
terfeit presentments  of  them."  Hence  we  only  have  representa- 
tions taken  from  a  couple  of  paintings  made  from  descriptions 
given  by  those  who  were  familiar  with  them.  The  engravings 
we  herewith  give  were  taken  from  photographs  of  these  paint- 
ings. The  one  with  the  elk's  horns  and  serpent's  tail  was 
painted  by  T.  F.  Ladd,  of  Whitehall,  111.,  the  other  by  an  artist 
sent  thither  from  Washington,  D.  C.,forthat  purpose.  Whether 
the  petroglyphs  were  made  just  alike,  and  the  difference  between 
them  occurred  from  painting,  or  whether  they  were  dissimilar, 
as  -shown  in  the  engravings,  we  cannot  say,  but  presume  our 
engravings  are  accurate  representations  of  each,  and  that  they 
were  dissimilar  as  they  were  delineated  on  the  rock.  These 
petroglyphs  were  badly  marred  and  defaced  before  any 
white  man  settled  in  that  locality,  and  though  nearly  alike  in 
conception  and  execution  they  are  somewhat  dissimilar  in  the 
shape  of  their  horns  and  tail,  and  the  manner  of  its  carriage. 
The  one  with  the  tail  passing  over  the  back  between  the  wings, 
thence  over  the  head  and  back  between  the  legs,  with  the  fish 
terminal,  comes  more  closely  to  Marquette's  description  than 
the  other,  yet  in  their  main  features  and  combination  they  ap- 
proximate very  closely ;  and  while  there  were  several  traditions 
among  the  Indians  of  the  then  northwest  relative  to  them 
none  but  that  of  the  Miamis  mention  but  one  monster.  Some 
of  the  traditions  say  the  Piasa  was  fond  of  bathing  in  the 
Mississippi  and  a  very  rapid  swimmer,  and  when  disporting  in 
the  tide  raised  such  a  commotion  in  the  water  as  to  force  great 
waves  over  the  banks,  inundating  the  adjacent  country .  Others, 
that  when  mad  (and  it  always  was  mad  at  the  sight  of  an 
Indian)  it  thrashed  the  ground  with  its  tail  until  the  whole 
earth  shook  and  trembled.  There  were  several  other  petro- 
glyphs upon  the  same  strata  between  Alton  and  Grafton,  but 
insignificant  in  size  as  compared  with  these.  One  represented 
two  birds  in  attitude  of  fighting  over  an  apple  or  ring  which  was 
carved  on  the  rock  between  them .  Another  of  a  bird  and  a  small 


24  THE  PIASA. 

animal  contending  for  a  similar  prize.  Another  was  a  small 
Grecian  cross.  But  we  will  not  attempt  to  theorize  upon  these 
smaller  petroglyphs,  but  refer  the  reader  to  the  work  of  the 
Honorable  William  McAdams,  the  ethnologist  and  archaeologist 
of  Alton,  Illinois,  who  either  now  has  or  soon  will  publish  a 
work  on  the  pictographs  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  is  of  the 
opinion  that  these  monster  petroglyphs,  together  with  the 
numerous  lesser  ones  of  that  locality,  were  a  chronological  his- 
tory of  the  great  events  which  transpired  away  back  in  the  dim 
misty  past,  to  some  far  more  intelligent  people  than  the  Indian, 
and  is  inclined  to  the  belief  that  they  were  made  by  that  myst- 
erious but  very  intelligent  pre-historic  race  of  this  country, 
whom  we  call  the  Mound  Builders,  who  are  only  known  by  the 
relics  of  their  wonderful  works,  and  what  appears  from  these 
works  to  have  been  their  great  advancement  in  a  knowledge  of 
the  arts  and  sciences,  more  especially  engineering  and  fort -build- 
ing. They  also  had  not  only  a  knowledge  of  the  utility  of 
metal  but  were  experts  in  the  manufacture  of  copper  instruments 
and  hardening  them  so  as  to  cut  granite.  They  also  well  under- 
stood the  art  of  making  pottery  and  bricks,  and  must  have  been 
as  numerous  along  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi  as  the  inhabi- 
tants on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber.  While  these  people  might  have 
made  these  petroglyphs  we  are  clearly  of  the  opinion  that  they 
did  not,  and  are  the  more  confirmed  in  this  belief  by  the  fact 
that  they  have  never  heretofore  been  accredited  with  keeping 
any  such  records,  while  it  is  a  well  settled  fact  that  the  Indians 
not  only  made  petroglyphic  records  before  the  advent  of  the 
Europeans  to  this  continent  but  have  kept  it  up  ever  since. ' 
Besides  this  it  is  absolutely  certain  that  these  petroglyphs  were 
of  a  more  recent  date  than  the  age  of  the  Mound  Builders,  because 
the  elements  would  have  entirely  effaced  them  if  not  renewed 
from  time  to  time,  which  could  hardty  have  been  done,  since 
the  Mound  Builders  became  extinct  thousands  of  years  ago, 
unless  we  assume  that  the  Indian  is  either  the  descendant  of, 
or  the  immediate  successor  to,  the  possession  of  this  vast  conti- 
nent, neither  of  which  is  tenable  nor  reasonable.  The  difference 


THE   PIASA.  25 

in  the  anatomical  formation  of  these  two  races  forbids  this  as- 
sumption. While  the  fact  that  the  Indians  had  no  tradition  or 
other  evidence  of  their  having  overcome  and  subdued  the  occu- 
pants of  this  vast  country,  nor  that  there  were  any  former 
people  here,  establishes  beyond  doubt  that  the  Indians  were  in 
no  way  connected  with  the  Mound  Builders  or  had  any  knowl- 
edge of  their  existence,  but  they  utilized  their  tumuli  or  mounds 
for  their  burial  grounds,  whereby  the  name  "Indian  Mounds  " 
obtains,  and  even  at  this  late  period,  when  science  and  research 
are  illuming  the  dark  caverns  and  hidden  nooks  of  nature's  lab- 
oratory, there  are  ver3r  many  intelligent  people  who  believe 
these  mounds  were  the  production  of  the  Indians.  But  whether 
these  monster  petroglyphs  were  the  conception  and  work  of  the 
red  or  white  man  the  naked  fact  still  exists  that  they  embodied 
in  a  strikingly  graphic  view  so  many  elements  of  horror,  dread 
and  affright  to  the  Indians  of  that  locality  that  even  the  boldest 
and  bravest  of  them  dare  not  gaze  upon  the  great  red  eyes  and 
horrid  shape  of  these  cold,  inanimate  pictures,  away  up  on  the 
smooth  stone  wall,  nearly  a  hundred  feet  above  the  river. 
Such  was  their  dread  of  them  that  in  passing  up  and  down  the 
Mississippi — which  was  their  only  highway  at  this  point — they 
steered  their  canoes  so  as  to  hug  the  opposite  shore,  while  few, 
indeed,  dared  even  look  in  the  direction  of  the  rock  whereon 
these  dreaded  monsters  \vere  delineated,  with  elevated  wings, 
as  if  about  to  swoop  down  and  destroy  every  living  creature 
upon  the  broad  face  of  the  river.  Their  position  .upon  the  rock 
was  in  a  straight  horizontal  line,  close  together,  with  their 
heads  facing  the  east.  When  discovered  by  Marquette  they 
seemed  to  have  been  recently  painted  in  red,  black  and  green, 
and  were  certainly  horrid  enough  in  their  aspect  to  frighten  the 
learned  and  trusting  Jesuit,  who  says,  "they  frighted  me"  If 
they  were  objects  of  affright  to  him  how  much  more  so  must 
thev  have  been  to  the  superstitious  sons  of  the  forest,  who  be- 
lieved in  the  existence  of  a  multiplicity  of  real,  corporeal,  bad 
spirits,  henos,  or  devils,  chief  of  which  was  represented  by  the 
Piasa — their  devil  of  devils. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  ILLINI  AND  MIAMI  TRADITIONS  OF  THE  PIASA,  OR  PIUSA  —  A 
GOLGOTHA-CAVE  IN  THE  SMOOTH  FACE  OF  A  PERPENDICULAR 
STONE  LEDGE  FIFTY  FEET  ABOVE  THE  BASE,  WHERE  THE 
BONES  OF  THOUSANDS  OF  HUMAN  BEINGS  WERE  FOUND  —  FOND 
OF  DEER  AND  YOUNG  BUFFALO  UNTIL  TASTING  INDIAN  FLESH, 
THE  PIASA  WOULD  FEAST  ON  NOTHING  BUT  INDIAN  —  WHOLE 
VILLAGES  DEPOPULATED  TO  APPEASE  ITS  HUNGER. 

The  North  American  Indians,  like  the  pale  faces,  have  their 
historians,  orators  and  statesmen,  with  this  difference  in  their 
production  and  growth :  theirs  are  carefully  selected  and  edu- 
cated to  the  special  profession  and  make  it  their  life-study  and 
calling,  while  ours  spring  up  like  magic  with  a  kind  of  sponta- 
neity not  unlike  Jonah's  gourd  or  mushrooms — the  growth  of 
a  single  night.  Though  the  Indian  has  no  books  and  is  ignor- 
ant of  the  alphabet  and  penmanship  he  has  two  modes  of  pre- 
serving and  recording  history  —  tradition  and  pictographs  or 
petroglyphs.  The  art  of  preserving  history  in  detail  among 
the  Indians  is  by  tradition,  hence  its  accuracy  largely  depends 
upon  the  tenacity  of  the  memory  of  their  historians^  and  the 
accuracy  with  which  their  traditions  are  handed  down  from 
father  to  son,  from  generation  to  generation.  Their  great 
events  and  periods  are  graphically  shown  and  preserved  in 
pictographs  and  petroglyphs  as  before  shown.  But  they  have 
no  other  means  of  preserving  their  history  in  narrative  form 
and  detailed  order  than  tradition. 

Though  visionary  and  unreal,  still  their  traditions  have  much 
foundation  of  fact,  and  are  full  of  interest  to  the  student  and 
thinker.  The  Illini  tradition  of  the  Piasa  is  from  the  pen  of  the 
late  Prof.  John  Russell,  of  Jersey  county,  Illinois,  a*  scholar, 


28  THE   PIASA. 

writer  and  poet  of  considerable  repute.  Indeed,  his  beautiful- 
epic  entitled,  "The  Worm  of  the  Still,"  gave  him  a  world-wide 
fame  as  a  poet.  He  came  from  the  Empire  State  away  back  in 
the  "thirties"  and  located  in  Jersey  count}',  where  he  engaged 
in  teaching  school  and  writing  for  the  public  press.  Having 
come  in  almost  daily  contact  with  the  Indians  of  that  localit}', 
which  is  near  Alton,  where  the  pictures  of  these  monsters  were 
delineated,  he  heard  several  Indian  traditions  pertaining  to  the 
Piasa,  and  was  especially  interested  in  that  of  the  Illini  or  Illi- 
nois confederacy,  and  to  fully  understand  the  locality  he  visited 
it  in  company  with  a  competent  guide  in  March,  1848,  and  ex- 
plored the  cave  near  where  these  monsters  were  delineated  on 
the  rock,  and  wrote  up  the  results  of  his  exploration  and  had 
it  published  in  "The  Evangelical  Magazine  and  Gospel  Advo- 
cate," printed  and  published  at  Utica,in  the  State  of  New  York, 
in  the  July  number,  1848,  and  republished  in  the  February 
number  of  "Manford's  Magazine,"  of  Chicago,  1887,  which  is 
as  follows : 

"  THE  PIASA  ;   AN  INDIAN  TRADITION  OF  ILLINOIS. 

"No  part  of  the  United  States,  not  even  the  highlands  of  the 
Hudson,  can  vie  in  wild  and  romantic  scenery  with  the  bluffs  of 
Illinois.  On  one  side  of  the  river,  often  at  the  water's  edge,  a 
perpendicular  wall  of  rock  rises  to  the  height  of  some  hundred 
feet.  Generally  on  the  opposite  shore  is  a  level  bottom  or  prai- 
rie of  several  miles  in  width,  extending  to  a  similar  bluff  that 
runs  parallel  with  the  river.  One  of  these  ranges  commences  at 
Alton  and  extends,  with  a  few  intervals,  for  many  miles  along 
the  left  bank  of  the  Illinois.  In  descending  the  river  to  Alton 
the  traveler  will  observe  between  that  town  and  the  mouth  of 
the  Illinois  a  narrow  ravine,  through  which  a  small  stream  dis- 
charges its  waters  into  the  Mississippi.  The  stream  is  the 
Piasa.  Its  name  is  Indian,  and  signifies  in  the  Illini,  "the  bird 
that  devours  men."  Near  the  mouth  of  that  stream,  on  the 
smooth  and  perpendicular  face  of  the  bluff,  at  an  elevation 
which  no  human  art  can  reach,  is  cut  the  figure  of  an  enormous 


THE  PIASA.  29 

bird,  with  its  wings  extended.  The  bird  which  this  figure  rep- 
resents was  called  by  these  Indians  the  Piasa,  and  from  this 
is  derived  the  name  of  the  stream.  The  tradition  of  the  Piasa 
is  still  current  among  all  the  tribes  of  the  Upper  Mississippi, 
and  those  who  have  inhabited  the  valley  of  the  Illinois,  and  is 
briefly  this :  '  Many  thousand  moons  before  the  arrival  of  the 
pale-faces,  when  the  great  Magalonyx  and  Mastodon,  whose 
bones  are  now  dug  up,  were  still  living  in  the  land  of  the  green 
prairies,  there  existed  a  bird  of  such  dimensions  that  he  could 
easily  carry  off  in  his  talons  a  full  grown  deer.  Having  obtain- 
ed a  taste  of  human  flesh  from  that  time  he  would  prey  upon 
nothing  else.  He  was  artful  as  he  was  powerful,  and  would 
dart  suddenly  and  unexpectedly  upon  an  Indian,  bear  him  off 
into  one  of  the  caves  of  the  bluff  and  devour  him.  Hundreds  of 
warriors  attempted  for  years  to  destroy  him,  but  without  suc- 
cess. Whole  villages  were  nearly  depopulated,  and  consterna- 
tion spread  through  all  the  tribes  of  the  Illini.  At  length  *Oua- 
togo,  a  chief  whose  fame  extended  even  beyond  the  great  lakes, 
separating  himself  from  the  rest  of  his  tribe,  fasted  in  solitude 
for  the  space  of  the  whole  moon  and  prayed  to  the  Great  Spirit, 
the  Master  of  Life,  that  he  would  protect  his  children  from  the 
Piasa.  On  the  last  night  of  his  fast  the  Great  Spirit  appeared 
to  Ouatogo  in  a  dream,  and  directed  him  to  select  twenty  of 
his  warriors,  each  armed  with  a  bow  and  poisoned  arrow,  and 
conceal  them  in  a  designated  spot.  Near  the  place  of  their  con- 
cealment another  warrior  was  to  stand  in  open  view  as  a  vic- 
tim for  the  Piasa,  which  they  must  shoot  the  instant  that  he 
pounced  upon  his  prey.  When  the  chief  awoke  the  next  morning 
he  thanked  the  Great  Spirit,  and  returning  to  his  tribe  told  them 
the  dream.  The  warriors  were  quickly  selected  and  placed  in 
ambush  as  directed.  Ouatogo  offered  himself  as  the  victim. 
He  was  willing  to  die  for  his  tribe.  Placing  himself  in  open  view 
of  the  bluff  he  soon  saw  the  Piasa  perched  on  the  cliff,  eyeing  his 


*WAW-TO/-GO. 


30  THE  PIASA. 

prey.  Ouatogo  drew  up  his  manly  form  to  its  utmost  height, 
planting  his  feet  firmly  upon  the  earth  he  began  to  chant  the 
death  song  of  an  Indian  warrior.  A  moment  after  the  Piasa 
arose  into  the  air  and  swift  as  the  thunderbolt  darted  down 
upon  the  chief.  Scarcely  had  he  reached  his  victim  when  every 
bow  was  sprung  and  every  arrow  sent  to  the  feather  into  his 
body.  The  Piasa  uttered  a  wild,  fearful  scream,  that  resounded 
far  over  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  and  expired.  Ouatogo 
was  safe.  Not  an  arrow,  not  even  the  talons  of  the  bird  had 
touched  him.  The  Master  of  Life,  in  admiration  of  the  generous 
deed  of  Ouatogo,  had  held  over  him  an  invisible  shield.  In 
memory  of  this  event  the  image  of  the  Piasa  was  engraven  on 
the  face  of  the  bluff .'  Such  is  the  Indian  tradition.  Of  course  I 
do  not  vouch  for  its  truth.  This,  however,  is  certain,  the  figure 
of  a  large  bird  cut  in  the  solid  rock  is  still  there,  and  at  a  height 
that  is  perfectly  inaccesable.  How  and  for  what  purpose  it  was 
made  I  leave  for  others  to  determine.  Even  at  this  day  an 
Indian  never  passes  that  spot  in  his  canoe  without  firing  his 
gun  at  the  figure  of  the  bird.  The  marks  of  the  balls  are  almost 
innumerable.  Near  the  close  of  March  of  the  present  year  I  was 
induced  to  visit  the  bluffs  below  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois  and 
above  the  Piasa.  My  curiosity  was  principally  directed  to  the 
examination  of  a  cave  connected  with  the  above  tradition,  as 
one  of  those  to  which  the  bird  had  carried  his  victims.  Preceded 
by  an  intelligent  guide,  who  carried  a  spade,  I  set  out  on  my 
excursion.  The  cave  was  extremely  difficult  of  access,  and  at 
one  point  of  our  progress  I  stood  at  an  elevation  of  one  hundred 
and  fifty  feet  on  the  face  of  the  perpendicular  bluff,  with  barely 
room  to  sustain  one  foot.  The  unbroken  wall  towered  above 
me,  while  below  was  the  river.  After  a  long  and  perilous  clam- 
bering we  reached  the  cave,  which  was  about  fifty  feet  above 
the  surface  of  the  river.  By  the  aid  of  a  long  pole,  placed  on  a 
projecting  rock  and  the  upper  end  touching  the  mouth  of  the 
cave,  we  succeeded  in  entering  it.  The  Mississippi  was  roHing 
in  silent  grandeur  beneath  us;  high  over  our  heads  a  single  cedar 


THE  PI  AS  A.  31 

hung  its  branches  over  the  cliff,  on  the  blasted  top  of  which  was 
seated  a  bald  eagle.  No  other  sound  or  sign  of  life  was  near  us. 
A  Sabbath  stillness  rested  on  the  scene.  Not  a  cloud  was  visible 
in  the  the  heavens,  not  a  breath  of  air  was  stirring.  The  broad 
Mississippi  lay  before  us  calm  and  smooth  as  a  lake.  The 
landscape  presented  the  same  wild  aspect  as  it  did  before  it  had 
met  the  eyes  of  the  -white  man.  The  roof  of  the  cavern  was 
vaulted,  the  top  of  which  was  hardly  less  than  twenty  feet  high. 
The  shape  of  the  cave  was  irregular,  but  so  far  as  I  could  judge 
the  bottom  would  average  twenty  by  thirty  feet.  The  floor  of 
the  cave  throughout  its  whole  extent  was  one  mass  of  human 
hones.  Skulls  and  other  bones  were  mingled  together  in  the 
utmost  confusion.  To  what  depth  they  extended  I  am  unable 
to  decide,  but  we  dug  to  the  depth  of  three  or  four  feet  in  every 
quarter  of  the  cavern  and  still  we  found  only  bones.  The  re- 
mains of  thousands  must  have  been  deposited  there.  How  and 
by  whom  and  for  what  purpose  it  is  impossible  to  conjecture." 
Such  is  the  tradition  of  the  dread  Piasa,  as  given  by  Prof. 
Russell,  as  common  among  the  great  confederation  known  as 
the  Illini.  His  statement  that  the  place  where  this  monster 
was  delineated  was  so  high  that  no  human  art  could  reach  it 
shows  that  he  had  but  little  knowledge  of  the  use  of  blocks  and 
pulleys  as  a  means  of  reaching  elevated  places.  To  the  painter 
of  the  present  day  eighty  feet  elevations  have  no  terror  and  offer 
but  little  inconvenience.  We  think  he  made  a  mistake  in  saying 
the  wings  of  this  monster  were  represented  as  being  extended. 
He  probably  intended  to  use  the  words  "elevated,  as  in  the  act  of 
starting  to  fty,"  which  would  be  more  strictly  in  accordance 
with  the  position  of  the  wings,  as  shown  by  the  engravings,  or, 
in  the  language  of  the  evangelist,  "their  wings  were  stretched 
upward."  It  will  be  observed  that  each  wing  has  five  hook- 
shaped  pendants,  representing  dagger-shaped  horns,  which  may 
have  been  intended  to  represent  the  ten  horns  of  the  great  red 
dragon  described  in  Revelations.  While  Pere  Marquette  called 
them  monsters,  Prof.  Russell  called  it  (for  he  only  mentioned  one) 


32  THE  PIASA. 

a  bird  ;  and  indeed,  it,  orthey,  may  have  been  called  bird,  beast, 
saurian  or  reptile  \vith  equal  propriety,  since  all  are  combined  in 
the  representation,  with  a  little  of  the  man  thrown  in  to  make 
this  wonderful  combination  of  aerial,  mundane  and  saurian  — 
what  is  it? 

From  the  fact  that  the  Mississippi  is  liable  to  wash  out  new 
channels  and  change  its  course,  the  strong  probability  is  that 
at  the  time  these  petroglyphs  were  made  its  channel  was  con- 
siderably south  of  its  present  one  and  that  there  was  a  large 
depth  of  earth  lying  at  the  base  of  the  present  perpendicular 
stone  wall  which  extended  up  to  the  bed  of  the  sandstone  on 
which  they  were  cut,  so  that  the  artist — for  he  who  conceived 
and  executed  them  was  an  artist  of  marked  ability — stood  upon 
the  ground  to  do  his  work,  and  that  since  then  the  swift  waters 
of  the  "  Father  of  Waters  "  have  cut  out  its  present  channel, 
sweeping  the  earth  into  the  gulf,  leaving  these  monster  petro- 
glyphs some  eighty  feet  above  the  river's  surface.  Assuming 
this  to  be  true  their  elevation  is  no  wonder.  When  and  by  what 
tribe,  nation  or  confederation  of  Indians  the  particular  locality 
about  Alton,  111.,  was  first  settled,  like  the  origin  of  the  Indian 
race,  is  an  unsolved  and  in  all  human  probability  ever  will  re- 
main an  unsolvable  mystery,  unless  we  adopt  the  theory  ad- 
vanced by  some  ethnologists  and  beg  the  question  by  saying, 
they  are  indigenous  to  the  Western  Hemisphere,  or,  like  Topsy, 
were  "  never  born  but  '  growed.' '  Others  advance  the  hypoth- 
esis of  their  being  the  offspring  of  that  wonderful  people  of 
whom  we  see  so  much  and  know  so  little — the  Mound  Builders. 
The  advocates  of  this  theory  urge  as  a  reason  for  their  belief 
their  divergence  from  all  European  nations  in  their  physical 
structure  and  color.  Prominent  among  points  of  difference  is 
the  fact  that  in  the  pile  or  hair  of  the  European  the  coloring 
matter  is  distributed  by  means  of  a  central  canal,  while  in  the 
Indian  it  is  incorporated  in  the  fibrous  structure ;  but  the  most 
clearl}'  defined  difference  is  in  the  shape  of  the  hair  under  the 
microscope.  That  of  the  Indian  being  round  ;  the  white  man, 


THE   PIASA.  33 

oval;  the  negro,  flat.  If  these  stolid,  lazy,  ignorant,  hunting 
and  fishing  people  are  the  descendants  of  the  once  powerful, 
intelligent,  industrious,  pastoral  Mound  Builders,  then,  indeed, 
may  we  exclaim,  in  the  language  of  Mark  Antony,  "O,  my 
countrymen,  what  a  fall  was  there!  "  Others  claim  that  they 
are  a  derivative  race,  and  sprang  from  some  of  the  ancient  Asi- 
atics, while  others  assert,  with  considerable  reason  to  back 
them,  that  they^  are  the  offspring  of  the  lost  tribes  of  Israel,  des- 
cribed by  Esdras,  "these  are  the  ten  tribes  which  were  carried 
away  prisoners  out  of  their  own  land  in  the  time  of  Osea,  the 
king,  whom  Salamanaser,  the  king  of  Assyria,  led  away  captive 
into  another  land.  But  they  took  this  counsel  among  them- 
selves, that  they  would  leave  the  multitude  of  the  heathen  and 
go  forth  into  a  farther  country,  where  never  mankind  dwelt. 
And  they  entered  into  Euphrates  by  the  narrow  passage  of  the 
river.  For  the  Most  High  then  Showed  signs  for  them  and  held 
still  the  flood  till  they  were  passed  over.  For  through  that 
country  there  was  a  great  way  to  go,  namely,  of  a  year  and  a 
half,  and  the  same  region  is  called  Asareth."  By  assuming  that 
away  back  in  the  early  days  when  "the  waters  were  being 
divided  and 'gathered  together  in  one  place,  and  the  dry  land 
appeared"  the  western  limits  of  America  were  united  to  Asia 
on  the  west  and  Europe  on  the  east,  we  can  readily  see  how  the 
Indians  as  well  as  animals  from  the  present  Eastern  Hemisphere 
crossed  over  to  this.  Though,  like  the  ancient  Scythians,  the  Indi- 
ans scalped  their  victims  and  tortured  their  prisoners;  and  like  the 
Tartars,  in  the  shape  of  their  canoes  and  manner  of  marching 
in  single  file,  the  great  similarity  of  their  religious  customs  and 
habits  to  those  of  the  ancient  Jews  in  many  of  their  leading 
characteristics,  among  which  were  their  offering  sacrifices  and 
burnt-offerings  to  appease  and  please  their  deities,  and  celebra- 
ting the  passover  in  their  harvest  or  crane  dance,  are,  indeed, 
very  strong  arguments  in  favor  of  their  Hebrew  origin  and 
descent.  Yet  no  generally  accepted  theory  or  hypothesis  has 
been  accepted  by  the  ethnologists  upon  this  question,  so  we  are 


34  THE  PIASA. 

left  in  the  dark  to  grope  our  way  to  the  light  as  best  we  can. 
We  have  given  much  time  and  study  to  the  mythologies,  cus- 
toms, habits  and  religious  practices  of  the  Indians,  which  has 
confirmed  our  belief  in  their  Jewish  origin,  and  that  they  prob- 
ably came  to  this  continent  away  back  of  the  Christian  era, 
and  are  possibly  the  descendants  of  the  lost  tribes  of  Israel, 
described  by  Esdras  in  the  Apocrypha,  as  before  indicated. 
When  the  white  people  first  discovered  the  Upper  Mississippi 
nearly  all  of  its  banks  and  adjacent  country  were  in  the  full  and 
undisputed  possession  of  a  powerful  Indian  confederacy,  known 
as  the  Illini.  This  confederacy  was  originally  composed  of 
possibly  fifty  Indian  nations,  united  under  one  set  of  sachems 
or  chiefs,  and  originally  came  from  the  shores  of  the  Gulf  of. 
Mexico  and  banks  of  the  various  streams  entering  it.  Having 
lived  there  for  centuries  they  from  time  to  time  ascended  the 
Mississippi,  each  time  going  a  little  farther  up  they  finally  took 
complete  possession  of  that  great  river  with  its  adjacent  lands. 
The  powerful  and  warlike  Miamis,  according  to  their  tradition, 
were  once  a  member  of  that  great  confederacy,  and  had  their  prin- 
cipal village  at  or  near  where  the  city  of  Alton,  Illinois,  now 
stands.  Their  tradition  was  related  to  us  nearly  sixty  years 
ago  by  a  chief,  and  is  substantially  as  follows  : 

THE  MIAMI  TRADITION  OF  THE.  PIASA. 

Several  thousand  winters  before  the  pale-faces  came  to  this 
country  there  existed  the  most  powerful  Indian  confederacy  ever 
known.  Their  principal  country  was  upon  the  bank  of  the 
broad  water,  into  which  the  Mestchecepe  (now  spelled  Missis- 
sippi), or  great  river,  flows.  Here  they  lived  and  were  prosper- 
ous and  happy  for  many  thousand  winters.  Their  warriors 
became  as  numerous  as  the  trees  in  the  forest,  and  were  as  brave 
as  the  bear,  strong  as  the  buffalo,  swift  as  the  elk  and  cunning 
as  the  fox.  Their  long  residence  and  great  multitude  in  that  coun- 
try resulted  in  killing  off  the  buffalo,  elk,  moose  and  deer,  until 
game  became  so  scarce  that  their  hunters  were  forced  to  keep 
constantly  extending  their  hunting  grounds  farther  north,  and 
the  Mestchecepe  being  their  principal  highway  they  ascended 


THE  PI  ASA.  35 

that  great  river  in  their  canoes,  but  frequently  came  in  contact 
and  conflict  \vith  other  tribes,  always  overcoming  and  conquer- 
ing them ;  for  it  was  the  pride  and  glory  of  the  warriors  of  this 
confederacy  that  they  were  Illini,  which  signified  in  their  lan- 
guage, 'we  are  men,  not  dogs  or  cowards.'  As  their  hunting 
parties  advanced  up  the  Mestchecepe  their  families  followed, 
until  they  reached  the  great  lakes  in  the  north.  When  they 
reached  the  country  about  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri,  or  muddy 
river,  and  thence  up  to  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois,  and  up  that 
stream  to  its  source  they  found  the  entire  surrounding  country 
full  of  game  of  every  kind  known  to  them,  in  exhaustless  quan- 
tities. Its  woods  abounded  in  fruits,  flowers,  nuts  and  wild 
honey  of  the  richest  flavor  and  sweetest  taste ;  while  its  creeks, 
rivers  and  lakes  teemed  with  fish  and  eel  so  thick  as  to  impede 
their  navigation,  even  by  canoe.  In  short,  it  was  a  perfect 

Indian  paradise. 

"Where  corn,  tobacco,  squash  and  bean, 

luxuriant  to  the  view, 
In  one  unbroken  round  was  seen, 
The  gift  of  Manitou." 

Immense  herds  of  buffalo,  moose,  elk  and  deer  listlessly  roam- 
ed over  the  broad  savannas,  daintily  nipping  earth's  luxuriant 
beard — the  grass — too  fat  and  happy  to  even  heed  the  approach 

of  the  Indian  hunter. 

' '  In  such  a  paradise  the  game 
Of  every  species,  every  name, 
Was  quickly  found  on  every  hand, 
To  rich  reward  the  hunter  band."  » 

Here  the  lordly  Indian  could,  with  but  little  effort  on  his  part, 

daily  feast  upon 

Roast  bear  and  bison,  elk  and  moose. 
Roast  deer  and  turkey,  brant  and  goose, 
Baked  woodchuck,  antelope  and  coon, 
Baked  squirrel,  rabbit,  duck  and  loon, 
Broiled  pheasant,  chicken,  lark  and  quail, 
Broiled  woodcock,  plover,  snipe  and  rail, 
Fried  lobster,  turtle,  fish  and  crabs, 
Fried  eels  and  clanis,  fried  eggs  and  squabs, 
Boiled  maize,  potatoes,  rice  and  squash, 
Boiled  pumpkins,  beans  and  succotash, 
Parched  acorns,  artichokes  and  corn, 
Parched  roots  and  nuts  of  various  form, 
Wild  apples,  cherries,  grapes  and  plum, 
Wild  berries  and  wild  honey-comb. 


36  THE  PIASA. 

Powerful  in  numbers,  they  soon  became  lax  in  discipline,  be- 
cause they  were  so  much  dreaded  by  surrounding  nations  that 
they  were  never  attacked.  Naturally  lazy,  their  easy  lives  led 
to  indolent  habits  and  reckless  living,  united  to  a  long  period 
of  peaceful  relations  between  them  and  their  surrounding  na- 
tions drove  the  cultivation  of  the  art  of  war  into  "innoxious 
desuetude."  Their  great  numerical  strength  and  slothful  habits 
resulted  with  them  as  with  every  other  great  nation  in  being 
the  rock  upon  which  their  confederacy  was  broken  and  shat- 
tered to  atoms,  never  again  to  be  united,  for  it  is  a  fact  that 
the  cohesive  attraction  which  holds  an  Indian  nation  together 
is  weakened  as  the  nation  increases  in  size.  The  larger  the 
number  the  greater  the  prize  in  reaching  its  chief  command, 
which  offers  temptations  to  the  unscrupulous  and  ambitious 
leaders  of  each  powerful  gentes  or  phratry  to  intrigue  and  plot 
for  its  command,  which  sooner  or  later  results  in  a  complete 
rupture,  generally  ending  in  a  bitter,  if  not  exterminating,  in- 
ternal war.  The  Illini  became  insolent,  oppressive  and  greedy 
to  such  a  degree  as  to  forget  the  greatest  of  all  Indian  virtues — 
hospitality  to  strangers — when  the  Great  Spirit  determined*  to 
punish  them  as  He  did  the  inhabitants  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah, 
because  they  had  become  thoroughly  wicked  and  transgressed 
His  law.  First  afflicting  them  with  the  most  dreaded  plague 
to  the  Indians — small-pox — which  carried  away  thousands  upon 
thousands  $  and  scarcely  had  this  plague  subsided  ere  He  sent 
evil  spirits  among  them  to  encourage  and  inaugurate  jealousies, 
intrigues,  plots  and  revolts,  not  only  among  the  confederacy, 
but  among  the  different  tribes  composing  it.  Assassinations, 
murders  and  revolutions  followed  until  the  once  almost  omnip- 
otent Illini  were  severed  and  torn  to  segments  by  internal  wars. 
Nor  did  their  afflictions  end  with  the  collapse  of  the  confederacy, 
but  the  most  implacable  wars  sprang  up  between  the  broken 
segments  of  the  Illini,  which  not  infrequently  terminated  in  the 
utter  annihilation  of  some  of  its  tribes.  The  Miamis  and  Mest- 
chegamies  (generally  spelled  Michigamies)  were  among  the  most 


THE   PIASA.  37 

powerful  tribes  or  nations  of  the  Illini,  and  their  territories 
joined  each  other,  while  their  principal  villages  were  only  some 
twenty  miles  apart,  both  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Meschecepe, 
one  near  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois,  the  other  near  where  Alton 
now  stands.  A  bitter  and  relentless  war  had  been  carried  on 
between  these  two  nations,  which  had  been  friends  and  allies  for 
generations  before.  Murders  and  robberies  were  of  such  daily 
occurrence  that  hunting  and  fishing  parties  were  compelled  to 
go  in  large  bodies,  ever  ready  to  repel  attacks.  Each  nation 
had  a  lookout  or  signal  station,  where  sentinels  were  always 
on  duty  to  signal  everything  which  might  indicate  approaching 
danger.  That  of  the  Mestchegamies  was  upon  the  upper,  the  Mi- 
amis  the  lower,  point  of  the  rock  promontory,  extending  almost 
continuously  between  their  villages.  O'verlying  the  rocks  there 
was  sufficient  soil  to  support  the  growth  of  large  oak  trees,  on 
the  limbs  of  which  platforms  of  poles  were  made  for  their  senti- 
nels. Each  sentry-tree  commanded  a  view  of  the  surface  of  the 
Mestchecepe  between  the  two  villages  and  over  the  bluff  on  the 
south;  but  owing  to  several  deep  ravines  leading  from  the  north, 
cutting  their  path  through  the  promontory  to  reach  the  river, 
an  army  might  pass  along  some  of  these  canyons  or  ravines 
without  being  seen  from  either  of  their  lookouts.  There  were 
two  caves  entering  the  rock  near  the  lower  end  of  the  promon- 
tory, some  fifty  feet  above  the  river's  current,  in  which  two  huge 
monsters,  with  the  body  and  claws  of  an  alligator,  wings  of  an 
eagle,  but  ten  times  larger ;  horns  of  an  elk  or  deer,  ears  of  a  fox, 
face  of  a  man,  mouth,  teeth  and  beard  of  a  tiger,  and  tail  of  a 
serpent  or  fish,  made  their  homes,  but  spent  the  greater  part  of 
their  time  resting  and  dozing  upon  some  high  part  of  the  rocks, 
or  flying  over  the  country.  One  of  these  was  fond  of  bathing, 
and  a  good  swimmer ;  while  the  other  seemed  to  be  delighted 
with  its  ability  to  beat  the  earth  with  its  monstrous  bony  tail. 
Though  of  horrid  shape  and  mien  they  had  never  molested  the 
Indians  other  than  by  their  loud  noises.  The  voice  of  one  re- 
sembled the  roaring  of  a  buffalo  bull,  the  other  the  shrill  scream 


38  THE  PI  AS  A. 

of  the  panther.  They  had  lived  there  so  long  without  doing 
violence  to  the  Miamis  that  they  considered  them  good  spirits, 
and  were  very  careful  about  disturbing  or  scaring  them  away, 
notwithstanding  the  Indians  knew  these  monsters  as  devil- 
birds,  and  that  they  were  of  sufficient  strength  to  pick  up  and 
carry  off  a  youug  buffalo,  and  in  fact  lived  and  battened  on  deer, 
elk  and  young  buffalo,  upon  which  they  swooped  down  and 
clutched  with  their  powerful  claws  or  talons  and  bore  off  to 
their  cavern  homes  in  the  cliff  to  devour  at  their  leisure. 

Thus  matters  stood  until  one  bright  September  morn,  when 
the  Mestchegamies  left  their  village  in  force  to  steal  a  march 
upon  and  stealthily  attack  their  mortal  foes;  and  on  that 
same  morning  the  Miamis  attempted  to  play  the  same 
game  upon  the  Mestchegamies.  The  latter  got  the  earlier 
start  and  reached  the  upper  end  of  the  lower  Piasa  canyon 
as  the  Miamis  reached  its  lower  end.  Each  were  intending  a 
surprise  and  slaughter  of  their  enemies  by  passing  through  this 
canyon,  the  Miamis  up,  the  Mestchegamies  down  it.  Both  sides 
were  in  force  and  fully  armed  for  war.  Soon  they  came  face  to 
face  in  the  narrow  canyon,  where  escape  from  a  desperate  bat- 
tle was  impossible  except  by  abject  flight.  But  no  such  thought 
was  entertained  by  either  side.  With  the  war-whoop  of  their 
respective  nations  the  dread  battle  shock  was  inaugurated. 
Every  brave  and  warrior  resolved  to  conquer  or  die  in  the  nar- 
row defile.  Quarter  was  neither  given  nor  expected.  In  the 
midst  of  this  fierce  and  bloody  encounter,  and  at  a  moment 
when  the  ranks  of  the  Mestchegamies  were  wavering  as  if 
about  to  yield  or  fly,  two  dread  monsters,  like  the  war  horse  of 
the  Scriptures  "snift  the  battle  from  afar"  and  came  flying 
up  the  canyon,  uttering  bellowings  and  shrieks,  while  the  flap- 
ping of  their  wings  upon  the  air  roared  out  like  so  many  thunder- 
claps. Passing  close  over  the  heads  of  the  combatants  each 
selected  and  picked  up  in  his  huge  talons  a  Miami  chieftain  and 
bore  him  off  above  the  now  terrified  and  utterly  demoralized  Mi- 
amis,  who  believed  the  Great  Spirit  had  sent  these  dread  mon- 


THE   PIASA.  39 

sters.orbad  spirits,  to  aid  and  assist  their  enemies.  And  as  each 
bore  away  in  its  cruel  claws  a  struggling,  squirming,  howling, 
groaning,  screaming  chieftain,  the  horrified  Miamis,  distinctly 
heard  them  calling,  pleading  and  imploring  for  assistance,  which 
they  could  not  give;  the  bravest  heart  ceased  to  beat  and  the 
strongest  limbs  were  paralyzed  with  terror.  They  were  incapable 
of  either  thought  or  act  until  aroused  to  a  sense  of  their  position 
by  the  fierce  war-whoop  of  the  Mestchegamies,  who  were  now 
sure  of  victory,  since  the  Great  Spirit  had  sent  these  monsters 
to  fight  their  battles  for  them.  All  order  was  gone  from  the 
Miamis,  and  their  leaders  being  carried  away  by  the  monsters, 
a  panic  set  in  and  ran  riot  through  the  ranks,  and  thousands 
were  slaughtered  by  the  fierce  Mestchegamies  or  forced  into  the 
Mississippi  by  the  terrible  onslaught  and  drowned.  Instead  of 
a  battle  it  was  a  massacre — a  holocaust,  which  only  ceased  with 
the  close  of  day,  since  the  Indians  never  fight  in  the  darkness  of 
the  night.  Though  by  no  means  annihilated  the  Miamis  were 
so  badly  crippled  as  a  nation  that  they  fled  towards  theWabash 
and  crossed  that  stream  ere  they  felt  safe.  Here  they  remained 
during  generation  after  generation, 

"Gathering their  brows  like  gathering  storm 
Nursing  their  wrath  to  keep  it  warm," 

never  forgetting  nor  forgiving  the  Mestchegamies  or  the  mons- 
ters, but  like  Hamilcar,  the  Carthagenian,  who  caused  his  son, 
Hannibal,  to  swear  eternal  enmity  to  Rome,  each  father  related 
it  to  his  son  from  generation  to  generation,  and  swore  them  to 
avenge  the  terrible  massacre  of  their  ancesters  in  the  canyon  on 
the  Mestchecepe. 

In  the  meanwhile  the  Mestchegamies  had  reunited  with  the 
Peorias,  Cohokias,  Tamaroas  and  Kaskaskias,  forming  another 
confederacy  known  as  the  Illinois.  Though  less  formidable  in 
numerical  strength  than  their  predecessors  the  Illini,the  Illinois 
were  a  very  powerful  and  warlike  confederacy,  and  soon  be- 
came the  absolute  owners  and  masters  of  a  vast  territory, 
bounded  on  the  east  by  the  Wabash,  south  and  west  by  the 


40  THE   PIASA. 

Metschecepe,  running  north  almost  to  Lake  Michigan.  They 
soon  became  a  proud,  haughty,  domineering  and  extremely  sel- 
fish confederacy,  and  guarded  their  rights  of  territory  with  rig- 
orous exactitude.  Every  trespass  upon  their  hunting  grounds 
was  promptly  and  severely  punished.  The  closer  they  guarded 
their  territory  against  trespass  from  the  hunters  of  surround- 
ing tribes  the  greater  was  their  temptation;  for  the  Indian  like 
Mother  Eve,  has  a  strong  desire  for  forbidden  fruit,  and  feels 
bound  to  do  that  which  he  is  forbidden  to  do  if  it  breaks  his  neck. 
Hence  large  hunting  parties  were  formed  and  raids  made  into 
the  territory  of  the  Illinois,  which  exasperated  them  in  turn, 
resulting  in  numerous  murders  and  small  battles,  followed  by  a 
few  cold-blooded  massacres.  In  this  way  the  passions  of  these 
naturally  vengeful  people  were  wrought  up  to  a  white  heat, 
when  nothing  but  revenge  and  slaughter  was  thought  of.  This 
was  the  long-wished  and  patiently  waited  for  time  for  the  Mi- 
amis  to  wipe  out  the  score  between  them  and  the  Mestchega- 

mies,  for 

"  Time  at  last  sets  all  things  even, 
And  if  we  do  but  watch  the  hour, 
There  never  yet  was  human  power 
Which  could  evade,  if  unforgiven, 
The  patient  search  and  vigil  long, 
Of  him  who  treasures  up  a  wrong." 

Generation  after  generation  had  come  and  gone  to  find  the 
Miamis  plotting,  planning  and  scheming  some  means  of  paying 
off  their  deadly  enemies  the  full  amount  of  their  sufferings 
and  loss,  not  only  in  their  own  coin,  but  with  compound  interest. 
By  persistent  and  untiring  efforts  they  succeeded  in  organizing  a 
powerful  Indian  confederacy,  about  the  year  1760,  known  as 
the  Peuotomies,  which  was  composed  of  many,  if  not  quite  all 
the  Indian  nations  of  the  then  northwest  who  spoke  the  Algon- 
kian  language;  among  whom  the  Miamis,  Pottawattamies,  Ot- 
tawas,  Chippewas,  Sauks  and  Foxes  were  prominent  actors  in 
the  long  and  sanguinary  struggle  which  followed  close  upon 
the  formation  of  the  Peuotomies.  Revenge  has  ever  been  the 
controlling  passion  of  the  Indian,  impelling  him  to  fight  like  a 


THE  PIASA.  41 

demon  for  its  accomplishment.  This  was  the  strongest  incen- 
tive to  the  Peuotomies  in  the  war,  to  which  was  added  a  desire 
for  the  possession  of  the  magnificent  territory  of  the  Illinois. 
The  great  war  chief,  Sugar,  of  the  Pottawattamies,  was  their 
commander-in-chief.  His  height,  as  shown  by  a  measurement 
of  his  skeleton  made  by  us  in  1831,  must  have  been  six  feet 
six  inches;  while  his  weight  certainly  approached  three  hundred 
pounds.  (He  was  buried  in  a  wooden  pen  on  the  south  bank 
of  the  Illinois  river,  a  few  miles  above  Starved  Rock.)  Big  Elk, 
the  war  chief  the  Mestchegamies,  commanded  the  Illinois,  who 
were  not  only  fighting  for  revenge  upon  their  enemies  on  ac- 
count of  numerous  murders  and  robberies  committed  on  them 
by  the  Peuotomies,  but  for  everything  dear  to  the  Indian — home, 
country,  and  the  graves  of  their  sires. 

With  such  prizes  to  contend  for,  and  such  armies  to  contend, 
the  war  was  not  only  terrific  but  long  and  implacable.  Com- 
mencing near  the  Wabash  above  Vincennes  in  the  early  spring 
it  lasted  until  the  following  winter.  Step  by  step  the  Peuoto- 
mies drove  the  Illinois  from  point  to  point,  fighting  as  they 
went,  until  they  reached  Blue  Island,  near  Chicago,  where 
a  most  terrific  battle  took  place,  lasting  several  days,  which 
resulted  in,  not  only  the  defeat  of  the  Illinois,  but  in  break- 
ing up  their  army  and  scattering  them  in  segments  and 
ignominious  flight.  A  considerable  portion  of  them  how- 
ever, under  Big  Elk,  fled  down  the  Des  Plaines  river  to  the 
place  where  the  city  of  Joliet  now  stands,  where  they  were 
overtaken  by  the  Peuotomies,  flushed  with  their  late  signal 
victory.  Here  another  sanguinar}r  battle  occurred,  in  which 
the  Illinois  fought  with  desperation,  but  were  again  defeated 
with  great  slaughter.  From  here  they  again  fled  down  the  Illi- 
nois river,  but  were  overtaken  at  the  point  where  the  city  of 
Morris  now  stands,  where  another  severe  struggle  ensued,  re- 
sulting in  a  victory  for  the  Peuotomies,  but  at  the  cost 
of  the  lives  of  many  of  their  bravest  and  best  soldiers,  among 
whom  was  the  great  Chippewa  chief— Nucquette — who  was 


42  THE   PI  AS  A. 

buried  in  one  of  the  tumuli  near  where  he  fell,  and  a  red  cedar 
pole  placed  at  the  head  of  his  grave  to  mark  the  spot.     This 
pole  still  stands  where  it  was  put  over  a  hundred  and  twent}-- 
five  years  ago,  and  is  now  in  a  good  state  of  preservation,  and  is 
located  on  Wauponsee  street,  near  the  Court  House,  in  Morris. 
The  loss  of  the  Illinois  in  this  battle  was  far  greater  than  that 
of  their  enemies,  and  again  they  fled  down  the  Illinois,  endeav- 
oring to  descend  that  river  to  the  Mississippi,  but  were  over- 
taken by  the  victorious  Peuotomies,  who  not  only  cut  off  their 
passage  down  that  river  but  surrounded  them  on  all  sides,  thus 
cutting  off  every  avenue  of  escape.    Standing  on  the  south  bank 
of  the  Illinois  river,  about  eight  miles  below  the  city  of  Ottawa, 
is  a  singularly  shaped  St.  Peter's  sandstone  rock,  which  rises 
up  from  the  river's  edge  one  hundred  and  forty-seven  feet.    Its 
surface  embraces  an  area  of  about  half  an  acre,  and  is  overlaid 
with  earth  several  feet  deep,  studded  with  a  few  small  red  cedar 
trees.    It  is  circular  in  shape  and  its  walls  are  nearly  perpen- 
dicular, except  a  small  space  on  the  south  side,  where  persons 
can  climb  up.     But  this  passage  way  is  so  narrow  that  it  was 
easily  defended  by  those  on  its  summit.    In  their  sore  need  and 
desperate  extremity,  the  remnant  of  the  Illinois,  who  had  fled 
in  this  direction  with  Big  Elk,  their  chief,  sought  refuge  upon 
this  rock.     But  the  beseigers  at  once  surrounded  the  rock,  hold- 
ing their  lines  beyond  the  reach  of  the  arrows  of  the  beseiged  ; 
and  thus  cut  off  all  supplies  of  food.     There  were  crevices  worn 
in  the  face  of  this  rock  immediately  above  the  water  in  the  river, 
so  deep  and  large  as  to  permit  an  Indian  to  pass  all  along  the 
river  side  of  the  rock,  so  when  the  famishing  beseiged  lowered 
a  vessel  by  means  of  a  rawhide  string  for  water  an  Indian  in 
the  crevice  below  seized  the  string  and  jerked  the  drawer  head 
foremost  from  the  rock  into  the  river,  a  distance  of  nearly  one 
hundred  and  fifty  feet.     To  avoid  this  certain  death  the  water- 
drawers  ran  their  leather  cords  around  the  body  of  a  tree  or 
stump,  unwinding  it  slowly,  and  thus  lowered  their  water  ves- 
sels down.     But  this  proved  abortive,  for  the  Peuotomies,  who 


THE   PI  AS  A.  43 

were  stationed  along  the  crevices  below,  cut  the  cord  with  their 
scalping  knives,  and,  being  sheltered  by  the  projecting  rock 
above  they  could  not  be  dislodged  by  the  Illinois.  Thus  were 
the  beseiged  completely  cut  off  from  food  and  water,  without 
which  they  could  live  but  a  few  days  at  best.  The  segment  of 
the  Illinois  here  penned  up  on  this  cold  inhospitable  rock  were 
chiefly  Mestchegamies,  the  mortal  foes  of  the  Miamis,  while  the 
latter  were  their  most  insatiable  tormentors,  and  ever  and  anon 
kept  shouting  to  them:  "Now  send  forth  your  devil-birds  for 
food  and  \vater ;  call  forth  your  Piasas  to  keep  you  from  the 
Pauguk  (god of  death),  whose  chattering  teeth  are  tearing  and 
rending  your  trembling  cowardly  bodies."  To  these  cruel  taunts 
the  brave  but  now  famishing  Mestchegamies  hurled  back  their 
defiance:  "The  Miamis  are  dogs  and  squaw-pappooses,  who 
fight  only  with  their  mouths  and  dare  not  meet  men  face  to  face 
in  fair  battle.  If  you  will  allow  us  to  come  down  from  this 
rock  and  meet  us  on  the  plain,  weak  and  hungry  as  we  are,  we 
will  send  you  flying  like  so  many  howling  coyotes,  as  our  an- 
cestors did  in  the  canyon  on  the  Mestchecepe  long  ago,  and  that, 
too,  without  assistance  from  devil-birds  or  Piasas."  Nor  were 
thirst  and  famine  the  only  enemies  the  Illinois  were  forced  to 
contend  with  ;  winter,  stern,  cold  and  stormy,  had  set  in.  The 
angry  winds  howled  over  and  around  this  perpendicular  rock 
like  searching  demons,  from  whose  piercing  shafts  they  had  no 
shelter,  nor  were  they  half  clad.  This  small  high  rock  is  but  a 
dissevered  part  of  the  south  bluff  of  the  Illinois  river,  and  its 
height  is  no  greater  than  the  next  point  of  the  rock  bluff  im- 
mediately east,  and  is  separated  from  it  by  a  deep  gulch,  about 
two  hundred  yards  wide  at  the  top.  Upon  this  last  named 
point  the  Chevalier  La  Salle  erected  a  Fort,  surrounded  with 
ditches  and  embankments,  in  November,  1682,  and  called  it 
Fort  St.  Louis,  in  honor  of  the  then  King  of  France.  Fort  St. 
Louis  was  occupied  and  held  by  Tonti,  the  one  armed  Italian 
lieutenant  under  La  Salle  until  1702  or  a  period  of  twenty 
years;  but  no  vestige,  save  the  ditches  and  earthen  breast- 


44  THE   PI  AS  A. 

works,  remained  at  the  seige  of  the  Illinois  on  Starved 
Rock.  Many  of  the  Peuotomies,  more  especially  the  Miamis 
and  Pottawattamies,  were  armed  with  rifles  or  muskets,  and 
experts  in  their  use;  and  by  lying  down  behind  the  earthen 
embankments  of  the  old  fort  they  could  pick  off  the  Illinois  on 
Starved  Rock,  which  was  within  easy  rifle  range.  Thus  instead 
of  a  refuge  and  place  of  safety,  Starved  Rock  proved  to  be  a 
death  trap  and  a  snare  to  the  Illinois.  What  between  thirst, 
hunger,  cold  and  the  deadly  bullets  of  their  implacable  enemies 
their  tortures  were  worse  than  those  described  in  Dante's  In- 
ferno. Bearing  all  like  heroes  as  they  were,  the  physically  fee- 
ble Illinois  made  a  dash  for  lile  and  liberty  the  first  dark  night 
after  their  entrapment  by  climbing  down  from  the  rock  and 
rushing  thro  ugh  the  beleaguering  lines.  Eleven  only  of  their  en- 
tire number  succeeded  in  making  good  their  escape.  All  the 
rest  who  \vere  able  to  leave  the  rock  that  cold,  stormy  night, 
crossed  the  dark  and  silent  trail  from  which  there  is  no  return. 
Thus  perished  this  remnant  of  the  Illinois  who  sought  safety 
on  this  rock,  which  from  thence  forward  has  been  known  by 
no  other  name  than  Starved  Rock. 

Though  badly  defeated  in  this  long  and  bloody  war  the  Illi- 
nois were  b}^  no  means  crushed  out  of  existence,  but  the  Mest- 
chegamies  were  virtually  annihilated,  never  again  to  be 
known  among  the  red  men  save  by  tradition.  Thus  at 
last  were  the  Miamis  terribly  avenged  upon  their  bitterest 
enemies  after  waiting  and  watching  for  an  opportunity  genera- 
tion after  generation.  As  the  result  of  this  long  war  the  Illinois 
were  confined  to  the  territory  in  southern  Illinois,  and  the  Mi- 
amis  regained  their  ancient  village  and  territory  surrounding 
Alton,  Illinois.  But  upon  their  return,  after  an  absence  of  a 
thousand  moons,  they  found  the  image  of  the  devil-bird  or 
Piasa  upon  the  rock  near  where  these  monsters  had  been  the 
cause  of  their  great  loss  of  life  and  country,  which  fact  had  been 
kept  green  in  their  minds  by  tradition,  and  could  they  have 
reached  the  place  of  their  delineation  upon  the  perpendicular 


THE   PIASA.  45 

wall  they  doubtless  would  have  effaced  them  so  that  no  mark 
or  even  scratch  should  indicate  where  they  were.  But  as  the 
place  was  some  eighty  feet  high  they  were  compelled  to  wreak 
their  spite  and  hate  upon  these  cold  images  by  shooting  at  and 
cursing  them.  If  these  traditions  are  true,  then,  indeed,  the 
temporary  assistance  of  the  Piasato  the  Mestchegamiesin  their 
desperate  battle  with  the  Miamis,  in  the  canyon  near  Alton, 
Illinois,  instead  of  a  blessing  proved  to  be  a  terrible  curse  to 
them,  soon  after,  by  the  great  sacrifice  of  their  people  to  feed 
the  ever  hungry  monsters  which  seemed  to  have  a  special  taste 
for  Indian  flesh,  and  would  touch  no  other.  The  time  when  the 
Piasa  existed  in  this  country,  according  to  the  Illini  tradition, 
was  "many  thousand  moons  before  the  arrival  of  the  pale- 
faces," while  that  of  the  Miamis  says,  "several  thousand  win- 
ters before  the  pale-faces  came."  Though  indefinite  as  to  the 
exact  time  or  period  both  indicate  a  very  long  period  of  time — 
many  centuries — and  may  be  construed  to  go  away  back  to 
the  mesozoic  or  middle-life  geological  period,  known  as  the  age 
of  reptiles,  when  the  monster  saurians  existed  in  great  numbers 
and  varieties,  among  which  were  the  ichthyosaur,  with  the^ 
general  shape  of  the  dolphin,  snout  of  the  porpoise,  head  of  the 
lizard,  jaws  and  teeth  of  the  crocodile,  vertebra  of  the  fish, 
sternal  arch  of  the  water-mole,  paddles  of  the  whale,  trunk  and 
tail  of  a  quadruped.  It  had  a  short,  thick  neck,  large  head, 
enormous  mouth,  with  as  high  as  160  long,  round,  sharp  teeth. 
It  had  for  its  playmate  and  companion  another  monster  called 
the  plesiosaur,  with  the  head  of  a  lizard,  feet  of  a  crocodile,  neck 
of  a  swan,  trunk  and  tail  of  a  quadruped,  ribs  of  the  chameleon 
and  paddles  of  the  whale.  His  body  was  shorter  and  much 
larger  than  that  of  his  companion,  while  in  general  size  they  were 
nearly  equal.  And  there  were  other  monsters  in  those  days, among 
the  most  notable  of  which  were  the  pterodactyl,  or  wing-finger- 
ed monstrosity,  which  in  every  point  of  the  horrible  surpassed 
the  ichthyosaur  and  plesiosaur.  It  was  an  aerial  beast,  bird  or 
reptile,  with  wings  shaped  like  those  of  the  bat.  Its  bones  were 


46  THE  PI  AS  A. 

hollow  like  those  of  the  bird,  but  it  had  no  feathers,  and  though 
its  bill  resembled  that  of  the  bittern,  it  was  full  of  long,  sharp 
teeth  like  those  of  the  shark.  Instead  of  two  legs  and  feet  it 
had  four  of  each.  The  fore  legs  seemed  to  have  come  out  at  the 
butt  of  its  wings  and  rested  upon  them.  In  shape  they  resem- 
bled human  arms,  with  talons  like  the  eagle  in  shape  but  much 
longer.  It  probably  could  walk  on  its  hind  legs  with  folded 
wings.  Its  legs,  like  its  arms,  were  supplied  with  long  and 
powerful  talons.  Its  spread  of  wings  was  from  fifteen  to  twenty- 
five  feet.  The  fossil  remains  of  some  twenty-five  species  of  this 
monster  have  been  found,  and  it  is  sometimes  called  the  ptero- 
saur or  flying  lizzard.  There  were  other  monster  lizards  in 
those  days,  some  of  which  were,  nearly  or  quite  one  hundred 
feet  long,  known  as  dinosaurs  ( terrible -lizzards),  megalosaurs, 
hylaeosaurs,  iguanadons,  etc.  The  megalosaur,  as  shown  by 
the  skeleton  restored  and  now  in  the  Crystal  Palace  at  Sy- 
denham,  England,  is  really  a  most  hideous  monster,  with  im- 
mense body,  legs  and  tail,  all  covered  with  armor  scales. 
Another  great  monster  of  the  frog  species,  called  the  labyrinth- 
odon,  then  lived.  Its  general  shape  was  that  of  a  frog,  but  it 
had  the  teeth  of  an  alligator,  while  its  head  was  protected  by  a 
natural  helmet  and  its  body  with  scales.  But  the  most  singular 
monster  of  the  age  yet  discovered  and  its  shape  and  component 
parts  analyzed  is  the  ramphorhyncus,  which  seems  to  be  a  con- 
nective link  between  birds,  beasts  and  reptiles.  Its  body  and 
neck  resemble  that  of  the  Piasa,  while  its  tail  is  identical  with  it, 
except  it  is  pictured  as  dragging  behind  instead  of  being  carried 
around  the  body  or  over  its  back  and  head .  The  shape  of  the  head 
is  drawn  to  resemble  that  of  a  duck,  with  the  long  bill  of  a  snipe 
or  bittern,  but  is  full  of  sharp,  round  teeth,  like  those  of  the 
crocodile.  It  had  four  legs,  with  eagle's  talons,  and  a  pair  of 
bat-like  wings.  When  on  the  ground  it  traveled  on  all  fours, 
dragging  its  long  tail  trailing  behind,  and  when  flying  it  must 
have  \vrapped  it  around  its  body,  under  its  \vings  or  around  its 
huge  neck.  Its  entire  length  from  head  to  tip  of  tail  was  prob- 


THE   PIASA.  47 

ably  thirty  feet  or  more.  In  many  respects  the  Piasa  is  a  faith- 
ful copy  of  theramphorhyncus.  The  form,  shape  and  description 
of  the  Piasa,  according  to  the  Indian  traditions  were  painted 
from  actual  sight  of  the  living  subject;  that  of  theramphorhyn- 
cus is  from  collecting  its  badly  decomposed  bones,  and  from  their 
form,  shape  and  size  constructing  an  ideal  monster. 

We  are  strongly  of  the  opinion  that  they  were  but  one  and 
the  same  species,  and  that  the  Indians'  representation  upon  the 
rock  is  by  far  the  truer  one  of  this  extinct  monster.  While  there 
are  several  close  resemblances  between  the  pterodactyl  and  the 
Piasa,  as  shown  in  thepetroglyphs,the  similarity  between  them 
and  theramphorhyncus  is  more  strikingly  clear.  Thus  may  the 
traditions  of  these  Indians  be  true,  and  their  petroglyphic  his- 
tory of  the  Piasa  may  enable  the  scientist  to  reconstruct  his 
ramphorhyncus  into  the  shape  and  form  of  the  Indians'  Piasa. 
If  these  petroglyphs  were  the  work  of  the  Indian,  and  of  this 
we  have  but  little  doubt,  they  show  that  he  had  a  knowledge, 
real  or  traditional,  of  the  existence  of  these  monsters  of  the  geo- 
logical reptile  age.  And  it  is  true  that  many  of  the  finest  speci- 
mens of  these  extinct  monsters,  as  well  as  those  of  the  post- 
tertiary  period,  have  been  found  in  the  United  States.  The  bad 
lands  of  Arizona  and  the  cretaceous  rocks  of  the  State  of  Kansas 
are  specially  prolific  in  the  production  of  skeletons  of  the  extinct 
saurians*,  while  the  bones  of  the  mastodon  and  other  monsters 
of  the  tertiary  period  are  scattered  all  over  this  country.  Our 
conclusions  may  be  summed  up  in  a  few  words,  as  follows : 

First.  The  Indians  appeared  upon  this  continent  before  the 
extinction  of  the  huge  reptiles  and  saurians  of  the  mesozoic  age. 
Second.  That  among  the  still  existing  saurians  or  reptiles 
when  the  Indians  appeared  was  one  huge  monster  that  could 
walk,  run,  fly  and  swim,  known  to  the  Indians  as  the  Piasa 
whose  bones  have  been  found  and  reconstructed  into  the 
saurian,  or  reptile,  known  to  science  as  the  ramphorhyncus. 

*The  best  specimens  of  the  anatomy  of  the  ramphorhyncus  ever  found  was 
lately  discovered  by  Prof.  Marsh  in  Kansas. 


48  THE  PI  AS  A. 

Third.  That  this  saurian  or  reptile  was  of  immense  size, 
great  strength  and  voracious  appetite  with  decidedly  cannibal 
propensities,  and  feasted  upon  Indian  flesh. 

Fourth.  That  these  petroglvphs  were  made  b\-  the  Indians 
many  centuries  after  the  extinction  of  these  monsters  as  a 
means  of  preserving  and  refreshing  their  tradition ;  or,  in  other 
\vords,  their  tradition  was  a  very  old  one  while  these  petro- 
glvphs were  comparatively  of  recent  date  and  made  by  persons 
who  never  saw  the  Piasa,  but  made  them  to  correspond  with 
the  descriptions  given  in  their  tradition . 

And  lastly  the  manifest  similarity  and  close  analogy  between 
the  noble,  patriotic  and  heroic  conduct  of  this  great  Indian  chief, 
Ouatogo,  in  offering  himself  as  the  victim  of  the  dread  Piasa  to 
save  his  nation  from  utter  destruction  and  annihilation  upon  the 
banks  of  the  majestic  Mississippi  to  that  of  the  Chief  of  all  Chief- 
tains, Immanuel,  in  offering  up  his  young  life  upon  the  cross  on 
Mount  Calvary,  as  a  sacrifice  and  propitiation  for  the  sins  of 
the  world,  is  such  as  to  attract  our  special  wonder,  while  the 
simple  but  beautiful  faith  of  these  sons  of  the  forest  in  the  lov- 
ing kindness  and  ever  watchful  care  of  an  all-over-ruling  power, 
as  expressed  in  the  few  words,  "  the  Great  Spirit  held  an  invis- 
ible shield  over  Ouatogo  which  protected  him  from  the  talons 
of  the  monster  and  the  arrows  of  his  men,"  challenges  our  ad- 
miration. Thus  in  the  character  of  Ouatogo  do  we  see  a  type 
and  symbol  of  "  the  Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away  the  sin  of 
the  world." 


COPYRIGHT,  1887. 


Gay  lord  Bros. 

Makers 

Syracuse,  N.  Y. 
V  IM21. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBAN* 


1    398.3AR58P 

I   THE  PIASA,  OR,  THE  DEVIL  AMONG  THE  INDIA 


